


The Silver Eyed Alchemist

by GravityMassUniverse



Category: RWBY
Genre: Entire Magic System, F/F, F/M, Have no idea why I came up with this, Kind of an FMA cross but not really, Magic, Other, Self-Insert, Tiny tiny bit of Fate series thrown in., lots of science!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-10 02:09:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15939596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GravityMassUniverse/pseuds/GravityMassUniverse
Summary: Again as you should get from the tags, this fic is a bit of a weird one. Technically it should replace the Spartan one since I'm never continuing that story, sorry. Either way I hope this story is too your liking, it should have some periodic updates but it won't be as frequent as Paradigm Shift.





	1. Flamel Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Again as you should get from the tags, this fic is a bit of a weird one. Technically it should replace the Spartan one since I'm never continuing that story, sorry. Either way I hope this story is too your liking, it should have some periodic updates but it won't be as frequent as Paradigm Shift.

**Chapter One: Flamel Rose**

 

That was…what happened? Last I remembered I was walking down the street when an avalanche of roses blinded me. Then there was a flash of light as I was hit by something and then thrown into something else. I remember the pain and agony as something massive crashed into me.

 

D-Did I die? What a weird way to go then… Death by a bundle of roses… 

 

Dammit…dammit.

 

DAMMIT!! Why?! I haven’t even gotten a chance to live my life yet, I never even got a shot at  _ finishing  _ a semester of college. I took a breath and decided to walk, maybe this was just a bad dream and I would wake up eventually. I decided to look down and I found I didn’t really have much of a body right now. It was there, but sort of whited out in the same way someone whites out a mistaken pen mark. I was surprised but I was never one to externally panic so much. Of course on the inside I was screaming and crying for mommy just a little, but no one else will get to know that.

 

My panics and screams continued onwards for several minutes until I finally burned myself out. Once I stopped I decided to take a closer look around this place. It was a huge white void lacking of form or color, infinite in scope, and beyond human comprehension. My body spasmed at the sight of the unnatural void. When I turned around to face a strange pressure…

 

I almost screamed out a mouth I didn’t have as strange white outed being stood inches from my face. It’s eyeless face split into an unnerving grin as I freaked out. A resounding chuckle echoed through the white chamber, and I felt static in my ears. I shook my head, trying to get the painful sound out.

 

“W-What…are you?” My throat felt parched like I had spent months wandering out in the Sahara. The beings grin shrunk away, and I felt raw existential terror as the beings appearance felt familiar.

 

“ **What am I?** ” I curled up into a ball at the beings response. “ **I am known by many names child of Earth. But in this role you can call me Death.** ” The moment he said this the terrifying vibe faded. The white room was replaced by a plush office building and the being had shifted into an obscured coat. Death racked his fingers against the hardwood desk with almost boredom.

 

“Um…hi?” The apparent physical manifestation of entropy was strangely calm and I didn’t feel even the slightest bit threatened. The tall bony skeleton seemed oddly familiar in some strange way. Almost like an old friend, or a parent or grandparent.

 

“Sorry about that…there were some small errors here and there with your death” I nodded hesitantly as he started to page through a small book. He looked unsure as he read through it, and gave me a pitying look.

 

“How unfortunate…you were meant to live until the ripe old age of 109.” I felt grief and fear come upon me like ravenous wolves, and I did my best to stay quiet. I had no idea what I was supposed to do anymore.

 

“What…killed me?” He scratched his head at my question and I wondered if I had died an embarrassing death.

 

“Well you were blinded by a bundle of roses and in your distraction, a truck slammed you into a gas station where you exploded.”

 

…

…

 

“Please tell me you’re joking.” 

 

“I’m sorry.” I placed my head on my hands at the response, and groaned. This couldn’t be happening to me. Just for the love of god, why the hell does the universe hate me so?

 

“Well since  _ this. _ ” Death flourished his hands for emphasis. “Wasn’t supposed to happen, you’re being given a second chance in…”

 

“Another world.” Death had intentionally stopped, and I crossed my arms already knowing there this was going. I've read it a hundred times, someone dies they get another chance…so on and so forth. Death or whatever he is seemed to agree and nodded.

 

“So do I get to choose or…?” He shook his head and I almost pouted. He looked a little sorry for me, and I knew something was up. He sighed and placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry but one world has already begun to claim you.” I felt a strange pressure well up inside of me as something seemed to pull on my  _ soul. _

 

Death actually winced and I knew it was bad based on just that. “You likely won’t remember most of your first decade or so… which is likely for the best” I was afraid to ask what he meant by that. “You will receive a few boons that will help you, otherwise you’d be dead within a week. It comes at a cost however, and will be  _ quite  _ painful.”

 

I felt my breath cut short as the room dissolved back into the white void. I fell flat on my ass as I smacked right into a huge nearly blank black door. Three more were parked around it forming a square shape. The other three were far more elaborate, with multiple strange symbols and signs all over them. I could see salamanders, lions and other occult images around them. Mine was simpler and only had some basic chemical formulas, the basic materials and components of guncotton and the stoichiometric ratio of liquid methane and oxygen, some biological formulas from AP biology and some math. The first three activated, their lightning arcing into mine.

 

The gateway was nearly torn off its hinges as a mass of black tentacles and eye leaped out. I screamed out and scrambled away in vain, as one of the arms grabbed ahold of my calf. I swear blood swelled out from my fingers as I tried to hold on. I was dragged into a limitless darkness, alone and afraid.

 

I didn’t want to die…

 

I won’t…DIE. I won’t

 

Die…

 

For a brief moment a light shined and I followed despite the usual warnings about following a light. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about that, I just wanted to live! I reached for the light and swam through the dark abyss until I could finally touch the light.

 

But when I did…

 

Something happened to me…I smacked into another weak soul and felt a terrible searing pain run through my body. Memories and information were absorbed into my brain…what felt like years passing by in the blink of an eye. The pain was unbearable… and for a brief second I hoped it would stop as the darkness vanished…a blurry and staticky image of a lab visible.

 

Until the strange area glowed and I started screaming…My mind fading under the barrage of memories and pain… 

 

***

 

I heard quiet breathing… my breathing. My eyes burned as sunlight passed through and I grumbled with irritation. I kept my eyes closed as I stood up. But when took a single step, I tripped over my own two feet, and let out a feminine high pitched yelp. 

 

“W-What?” I scrambled into my feet, and heard the flow of running water. I decided to follow it, thinking I could use it to see my reflection. My walk was unsteady and my body felt just odd…

 

“Woah…”

 

It’s beautiful here…there was a huge and pristine creek shaded by multiple oak trees. I could hear the squeaking and chattering of small animals, with a squirrel passing right under my legs. I slowly walked up to a still pool nearby, and rubbed the soft fabric I was wearing. As I looked down to face my distorted reflection however…

 

W-What that doesn’t make any sense no, no…that’s impossible.

 

“No…”

 

I grasped my face in shock and horror. That isn’t my face, that isn’t my face. In the mirror I could see what I looked like now. I grabbed my now heart shaped face, ending in a point, my silver eyes wide open in befuddlement. I brushed my hands through my long and choppy black hair, that gradually turned red at the tips. I was wearing a black sweater that was a little too big for my thin body, ending with white shorts. The outfit was topped with red gloves, two elaborate arrays stitched into them. I also had on a thick white backpack that jingled with  _ something _ . Whatever was in it was incredibly heavy, but I didn’t bother taking it off, since it felt important. I turned back to inspect myself some more. My skin color was a pale almost milky white, and my thin lips had formed into a pout.

 

“What is going o-on?” I sank to the floor as an incoming flood of bungled memories smacked my head like a jackhammer. Strange concepts and names filled my mind, and I felt only confusion and fear as everything mixed together. For a moment I felt like I was forgetting who I was, until the storm of foreign memories seemed to calm.

 

The memories seemed more like a distant long forgotten experience rather than something recent. Like something from a third person experience rather than something I had lived through. You would think not losing yourself would be a positive thing, but that little incident had told me just how screwed I really am.

 

I am Summer Rose.

 

***

 

Ok…now let’s recap what’s happening right now. One moment I was …walking down the street and the next I meet Death and end up in the body of a ten to eleven years old child with magic laser eyes.

 

Fantastic… _ yay _ . Well at least I get another chance, rather than dying and never getting to do what I wanted to do. But as as silver eyes warriors I’m not sure I’m ever going to get that chance for very long. I could hide away as a civilian but I didn’t find my change very good that I would survive. I would have to find somewhere to live in one of the major walled cities, and would get noticed by someone  _ eventually. _

 

I took a deep breath, and decided to sieve through my new memories. Most of them were useless, and the first two years were a complete blur. Only vague and murky memories of warmth, and usual gross baby things. I didn’t have much memories of any family, not even a hint. A scene full of screaming and sobbing was all that I remembered.

 

“That’s not very helpful.” I poked my soft hair, and sighed as I looked around the really rather pretty wilderness. I need to leave, maybe if I’m lucky this is just a really big park in a city, instead of a Grimm infested forest.

 

But I had my doubts I would be that lucky. I searched around the area, looking to see if I could figure out where I had to go to get out of here. My brain told me to head left and I did. I felt it was best to follow the part of me that had been living and breathing in this world rather than little old me. After a few minutes I found a house in an open field, strangely bereft of any signs of grimm incursion. There was a certain vibe that told me to stay away, but my legs ignored the command to leave.

 

I opened the door…and gagged as a putrid smell filled my nose. The interior of the house looked brand new but  _ something  _ just wasn’t right. I ended up in the living room which looked pretty normal. There was a television of some sort on the left wall, with  a shaggy carpet in between it and the couch. There was also a small interconnected kitchen that looked filled to the brim with food. A huge bookshelf to the right of the television like device. It was filled with a number of strange nearly esoteric books, and picked one thin black book out to read. 

 

_ Science of Alchemy Volume 1 _

 

_ By Perenelle Rose _

 

What the hell is this? My… _ her  _ mother is an alchemist? I opened it up curious to see what was written in it. It also helped to calm down my raging headache. 

 

“Alchemy is the scientific technique of understanding the structure of matter, decomposing it and then reconstructing it. A nearly lost mythical science known only by a select few. This book and its fellow volumes show the basic science of alchemy and how to perform it. A mix of chemistry, artistry and mysticism, the power of alchemy is nearly limitless. But only those with the knowledge and fortitude are able to use this incredible science to its fullest extent.” I paged through the book and stopped at a tutorial.

 

“Circle…” Out of curiosity as well as a strange urge I decided to follow some of the instructions, grabbing some chalk as well as a large stone slab. I drew a practically perfect circle, with another smaller circle within, with an equilateral triangle meeting its vertices with the outer circle. Three smaller circles were all between the two inner shaped, a straight line meeting with the outer array/circle. The array was rather simple, and had no writing. I picked up a loose piece of stone that I absentmindedly identified as granite.

 

“72.04% silica, 14.42% alumina, 4.12…” I shook my head as I placed the rock on the array. I had my doubts it would work at all but…I was curious. “A basic and generic transmutation array, mainly for deconstruction and reconstruction…”

 

Well let’s test this shit out then. I placed my hands to complete the circle with the  thought of what I wanted to make. Let’s turns this granite into a nice little birdy then. I closed my eyes doubting it would work, magic like this didn’t exist if this is the RWBY universe. 

 

The glowing blue light clearly begged to differ, and my jaw dropped at the crude copy of a crow. It had the same shape but the small details weren’t there, the texture was missing. Kind of like if a child had made a bird from playdo. I leaned away from the damn witchcraft and looked down at my trembling hands.

 

Oh god my head! Why won’t it stop?! The stench grew stronger, and I decided to follow it. It smelled like something had spoiled or an animal had died somewhere. I went forward walking through a small hallway with three doors, and glanced down into a dark downstairs area.

 

“Maybe I shouldn’t go down to the dark, scary basement?” I asked myself why I was doing this. But I knew I couldn’t take that smell, and it was certainly coming from downstairs. And where else was I going to go? I was in the middle of nowhere and it was unlikely anyone could find me.

 

So I went down the stairs…

 

***

The room was dark and the smell of death was even more imbedded into the musty and stale air. There was a weak light that shined upon three unmoving  _ objects  _ on the floor. I held tightly onto the lovingly stitched book c and I drew closer. I…took smaller more hesitant steps toward them, dread rising up with each creak of steps. 

 

Oh  _ god _ what…

 

There were three lifeless bodies leaking blood all over the ground. I felt sick and stumbled onto the ground as I tripped over a bottle. When I lifted up my head however I came face to face with someone looking  _ far  _ too much like me. I screamed and scrambled backwards.

 

“No…no…NO!” I threw up at the horrible sight, and couldn’t look away from the horrid injuries. All three people were heavily wounded, and I closed my eyes when I caught a peak of their insides. My throat tasted like shit and I gagged at the body tissues streamed about like confetti. 

 

Get away from here… I ran up the stairs in a panic, and nearly threw up again as I ran out of the house. I just kept running, I couldn’t stop myself. 

 

I…

 

I hadn’t stopped running for nearly 10 minutes , and I still hadn’t reached the edge of this forest. I think I was close, but I certainly couldn’t tell with my eyes alone. The light from the sun started to die down, and I noticed a thunderstorm was rolling in. A flash of light flew through the sky and I started counting.

 

1…2,3

 

4,5,6

 

_ Crack!! _

 

That isn’t good at all… I have to move and  _ fast _ . I picked up the pace, my destination thankfully not leading directly toward the storm. I felt invigorated, a strange energy pulsing and surging within me. I could hear more thunder, but it grew quieter and quieter as I ran. The forest grew more sparse and I could smell the signature scent of a large town or city. I couldn’t smell any burning so it was probably still a safe town. 

 

“Grrr…” That was about when I heard the worst thing possible for a wayward kid. The growl of a Grimm wolf on the prowl for its tiny and easy prey. I ran faster and did my best to keep myself calm and not terrified. The growls behind me told me I had failed terribly. 

 

I could hear three rustlings all coming from behind me, which was obvious. Oh god I don’t want to die! I’ve already done it once, I don’t want to do it again. My jogging shifted into a full on sprint, but I knew they would catch up. I know I was stronger than I was Before, but these things could take hits from Huntsmen and not instantly  _ explode _ . I almost certainly wasn’t strong enough to take one of those dogs down.

 

My heart rate sped up even more, as the plodding of clawed feet and rustling leaves alerted me.

 

“ _ AWOOO!! _ ” I ran even faster as a fourth louder and and even more blood curdling howl echoed through the forest. My heart practically burst out of my chest as I tripped over a branch. 

 

No… _ OWWW!  _ I screamed silently, as I felt the wind get knocked out of me. I was now whimpering near a log and in a panic crawled inside of it. A deep growl shook the log, and claws scraped against the old wood. I rolled into a ball as my fear overwhelmed me. The beast’s growls grew stronger and more frenzied as it could now taste the terror coursing through my veins. I quieted my whimpers hoping it couldn’t hear me. The crack as my log was torn in half wiped away any of my delusions. I could hear him lift his paws one more time, ready to tear me limb from limb, and paint the ground with my entrails and feast on my bones.

 

I pressed my hands against the log in vain, thinking that somehow my hands would save me. I didn’t want to go, I  _ wouldn’t  _ go out like this. I  _ needed  _ to know…what could I do to stop that thing from cleaving the tree in half. I didn’t know what the hell this tree was made of. I didn’t know alchemy well enough to make this tree stronger. I  _ need  _ to know this tree’s structure and composition.

 

I  _ will  _ know… 

 

Everything  started to become clear as I felt a dam burst within me. It flooded out and invigorated me, and I blinked as stars showed up in my vision. The log shimmered briefly and suddenly I knew everything there was to know, about this particular log. 

 

The log came from an oak tree, was made of 50% Cellulose, 20% Lignin, and 30% hemicellulose. There were other more detailed numbers and information but I absorbed them in the blink of an eye. I could feel it’s structure and knew it would never be strong enough to face a single swipe of my executioner's blade. This body, this form crafted and grown over countless decades, finally ready to fall completely against the claws of a monster.

 

I saw what I needed to do within my eyes mind.

 

I needed to  _ transmute  _ it with alchemy and shift it into something so much stronger than it could ever be, then…I had a chance. The byproducts would have a further use too, and I wouldn’t let this chance go by. 

 

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and I smacked the inner side of the log with everything I had. The incredible array on my gloves blazed with blue lightning, and I heard the slow growl of pain as the Grimm smashed its massive hand against one of the strongest and rarest materials known. 

 

Carbyne…I could sense the nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen form a brief burst of gas, confusing the Grimm. It gave me a terrible, terrible idea especially as the wolf changed tactics, reaching out for me with its claws. I strained to convert more and more of the tree to carbyne, barely able to shield it from itself. Too unstable to make for long.

 

I condensed the air, and grabbed two rocks and clicked them down together as the flammable gas grew more abundant. 

 

Closer…just ignore the growls, keep it together. Make a spark, make a spark.

 

Make…a SPARK! 

 

Just as long claws lunged for my face, the spark flew and I lost control over the unstable allotrope.

 

_ BOOM! _

 

The beast took the brunt of the explosion, and I was thrown back catching a sharp rock with my chest and stomach. Further explosions followed, and with my blurry eyesight I saw multiple Grimm fighting against the intense flames, they were screaming as their skin was burned off their bodies.

 

I…fuck yeah, take that you something…something.

 

As my eyes started to close shut, I saw a blur cut through the remaining Grimm like a hot knife through butter. Whatever or whoever it was kept his distance and I tried to call out to him. I screamed until my voice was hoarse, and nearly gave up hope until he jolted.

 

I smiled in relief as he ran toward me, my sight growing blurrier by the second. He  _ blurred  _ and I collapsed further as he lifted me up in his strong arms. 

 

The only thing I remember before passing out was the cane he used as a weapon.

  
  


***

 

“ _ This was a mistake! _ ” I whimpered as an ashamed and guilty sounding female voice echoed through the darkness. 

 

“ _ But this is a complete breakthrough! Transdimensional Aura transference opens up new possibilities of science and alchemy! And the knowledge we’ve obtained from that other world in what they call ‘chemistry’ and their physics and aerodynamics…’  _ A deep and rumbling male voice responded to the motherly one and I could hear the women’s huff.

 

_ “People had to DIE to get that knowledge Nicholas! And Summer is sick and confused, the poor soul forcefully pulled into our world without a choice.”  _ The male  growled and I flinched as something broke.

 

_ “It doesn't matter if a person or three gets hurt! With this new knowledge, we can save millions of lives. This could be a new rebirth of Alchemy, perhaps we can even learn the secrets of Dust itself. _ ” I trembled as my body felt achy and a full on shouting match started. The darkness around me grew darker and darker, the shadows cutting deeper.

 

The memory faded and I could now see a shadowed scene, a mother and her little girl conversing quietly. The mother was lying down on one knee while placing her hand on the child’s forehead. The child was shivering and I felt a nearly familiar longing.

 

“ _ Where does it hurt? _ ” The girl shook her head, and removed her mother's hand from her head.

 

“ _ I miss them…I want to go home. But I also want to bring you with me away from that monster. Alchemy seems like such a gift, a miracle, it’s not the end all be all of course. But if people worked together it could be a tool to do so much good.” _ The young mother stroked the child— _ my  _ head with motherly affection and I felt terrible that I had forgotten such a kind women. We kept talking transitioning into whispered Spanish. The scene faded from sight…and the dream shuddered once again.

 

We were in the basement…

 

“ _ You bastard…you killed him! _ ” Her/my mother shrieked lunging against the taller man. With a flash of white aura she was on her knees, her breath ragged. I was there too…trembling with unholy terror.

 

“ _ He’s not dead yet…the brat’s mention of that stone. If she can get power like that…she’ll be an unstoppable killing machine! _ ” The man sounded mad, and the women… _ Perenelle  _ lobbed a wad of spit in his face. He attempted to back slap her but she nearly cut him with a concealed knife. I started to scream as everything became distorted…only brief flashes like broken glass shining through.

 

A fight that moved faster than the blink of an eye, the other man standing up and fighting. And ending with the circle activating… and all three of them collapsing.

 

The women laughed bitterly as she lay bleeding out on the floor. S— _ I  _ stood catatonically and walked robotically outside…like a puppets whose strings had been cut. That…horrible man screamed out in rage and betrayal.

 

“ _ I helped you design the array Remember? Did you Really think I would let you make an actual one? But even so…you still got a bit of what you wanted dead old Nicholas. She’s stronger than ever before if not in the way you wanted…and I think that will comfort her. _ ” The other unnamed man spoke up with with a hint of well deserved smugness.

 

“ _ She won’t remember you…the trauma is too great. _ ”

 

I already knew that was a lie…this dream alone was a middle finger to that fucking bastard. I’m not sure I really wanted to remember more…but if there are more memories of her…it won’t be so bad.

 

“ _ I still won you…” _ Everything grew silent and I knew all three humans were gone from this world, their injuries and the drainage of their aura too great for them to sustain.

 

I…

 

The darkness…cutting once more and my consciousness faded…

  
  


***

 

“Hmm…” I grumbled as I held on tightly to my pillow, not able or willing to stand the harsh light over my head. Wherever I was felt comfortable, except what felt like hands rails where my bare toes curled up against them.

 

Aluminum, plastic, steel…stretcher…

 

My eyes opened wide as  _ everything _ flooded back in and I felt my lip quiver as the sadness and confusion sunk in. I was staring against an unfamiliar ceiling(heh) and was almost ready to stand straight up until I heard a polite cough. I leaned against the bed I was in, and carefully straightened my back against the wall. Sitting down on a standard wooden chair was a man in his early thirties with tousled black if graying hair and thin brown eyes. He had a light complexion with sharp features and a mysterious half smile.

 

Oh  _ god  _ it’s Professor Ozpin in his youth…and that could only mean that he…

 

“Is something the matter?” I shook my head at the older man’s question. He looked skeptical but it weakened when I started quivering. I took a closer look and marvelled at how little he had changed. He looked younger, but he wore essentially the same outfit after so many decades. It was a little nerve wracking to meet the Wizard responsible for creating the Maidens. To meet someone who had been fighting against evil for  _ thousands  _ of years on end.

 

It was frightening too, to meet someone who probably saw me as a chess piece in a game as old as this entire world. He remained silent as I got my bearings, still unable to believe what had just happened to me. I sniffed as a strong and  _ delicious  _ fragrance wafted through the room. I’m sure my eyes lit up, as a nurse of some sort brought in a food cart. She was nice and curvy and looked like someone out of a magazine.

 

She wore the usual blue nurse’s outfit that could barely contain how womanly she was. I glanced away from the perky brunette and my arms rose up of their own volition. Not that I would stop them, I’m hungry as fuck and a guy—gals got to eat. She gave me an amused smirk that made me flush, and then passed a few plates of food.  One plate contained a great deal of pasta, the second to the left of it had some kind of seasoned chicken, while the third had a few apple slices and two chocolate chip cookies. 

 

I could barely contain myself, but I managed to keep from gorging out. You would think hospital food would taste bad, but in this case it was great. I ate the pasta first, and despite my restraint I still ate it all within a few minutes. The chicken came next, and I was tearing the meat off the bones ravenously.

 

“Good…” I muttered as I took another bite, and pouted when I realized it was all gone. I ate the sweet apple slices slower, and kept asking myself why I never ate more apples when I…was alive. I shook my head, not wanting to think about it. Soon I was nibbling on the cookies, and covered my eyes with my long hair out of embarrassment. Both the adults were grinning and I growled in frustration, as some stray thoughts hit me. Now that I was kid again, people would take me even less seriously than  _ before _ , dammit!

 

“Azora…thank you for bringing the young child a meal. If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to speak with her alone.” The nurse nodded with trust in her eyes, and she ducked out of the room before I could say anything. I straightened up my back, and faced the Headmaster with a tilt of my head. 

 

“Is something wrong mister?” I felt like that might be the best way to address him as a ten year old. Hopefully it wouldn’t look like I was forcing it and he would buy it. He looked a little hesitant for a moment, before his expression hardened and he gave me a more steady look.

 

“Yes…I have some questions for you, young lady. Do you mind if you can answer them for me?” I shook my head, deciding to accede to his request, believing that being difficult would only raise his suspicions. Ozpin leaned down to face me, and I directed my gaze to his nose. I don’t think I could maintain with eyes that intense looking.

 

“Now what were you doing in that forest?” I opened my mouth and then closed it again. What the hell  _ was  _ I doing at such a dangerous and isolated forest with a bunch of dead bodies? I rubbed my chin, and went through my memories to figure it out but got nothing. The only guess I had was that whoever took care of me were alchemists and something went terribly wrong as one of them went mad with power. I gave him a shrug and he again looked skeptical.

 

“Sorry…but it’s the truth, I don’t remember  _ how  _ I even got there. I’m just as confused as you are.” That seemed to belay his suspicions and I let out a breath, having held it by mistake.

 

“Fair enough…how about your name? Do you remember that?” I nodded and he looked pleased.

 

“Summer Rose.” He didn’t  _ seem _ to find it familiar, but he did look happy to hear it. Whether it’s because I remember something or because he finds it familiar I couldn’t know. I hoped the questions were done for now until the wizard threw me a curve ball.

 

“Summer…” I flinched as he called me by my name. “In the area where I found you, there was some _odd_ material lying around, along with the smell of gas. You wouldn’t know anything about that _would_ you?” I started to fiddle with my fingers, as my anxiety and nervousness came out to play. He had the look of a man that had gotten a _checkmate_ and I knew I was done for. I could still play this off a bit, he didn’t seem to know we had a lot in common yet. So telling him my semblance in the right way shouldn’t be an issue, my special silver eyes had already brought his attention anyway.

 

“Uh…well when I was looking for a way out of the forest…I got found by Beowolves.” I shuddered as I remembered the horrible scene, and felt sick for a moment. I jumped as Ozpin placed his hand on my tiny shoulder, and I calmed myself. “I hid in a hollow log out of panic, but they still f-found me. I didn’t want to…” the headmaster gave me an understanding look, and I kept going. “I felt  _ something  _ inside of me rise up to the surface in defiance. Then I touched the log and I knew  _ everything  _ about it, and made it into something else.”

 

“By something else…” I jolted up as Ozpin pulled a black object from a sealed bag.  A small piece of black carbon revealed itself.

 

“Yeah mean  _ this. _ ” I nodded and he looked like he was satisfied with the answers he had gotten.

 

“You seem to have unlocked your semblance then young Summer.” I tilted my head, feigning child like confusion.

 

“Semblance?” I asked him with a curious expression. On the inside however I was screaming out to the heavens above.

 

Semblance…I have a semblance, I have a semblance!

 

Holy shit…

 

“You should know about aura yes?” I nodded my head unsurely and he smiled at my answer.

 

“Your Semblance is the unique power manifested by your soul. It represents an aspect of yourself, of your personality.” I nodded along to his brief explanation,  if my hands felt clammy as his expression turned grave.

 

“Once someone’s aura is activated it’s impossible to go back to a normal life.” I already suspected I was screwed when that happened. “You’ll also have a more difficult time interacting with others of your age without…incidents.” 

 

Fair enough…a normal human would literally  _ explode  _ under the kind of damage even the weakest aura used could do. If I interacted with the only somewhat tougher Remnan civilians then I would probably kill them by accident. 

 

Still a strange coincidence that  _ Ozpin  _ of all people would be the one to find me of all people. Could be any number of reason why it was him. Maybe he knew where I was, or whatever brought me here decided to help out. It could be total dumb luck and I’m very very happy if it was. I very much would like my insides to stay insides. But I guess getting roped into being a Huntsmen is the price I have to pay to live. As well as never getting to see my family even again…

 

“Young one…are you alright?” I nodded my head not wanting to deal with all of those thoughts. Ozpin clearly had an idea, and I was waiting to find out what he had for me. 

 

“A friend and I can train you and hone your skills in the way of aura.” My eyebrows rose over my head, and I couldn’t believe my ears.  _ The  _ Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, the Wizard himself  _ wanted  _ to teach me. I really wasn’t sure, but at the least this semblance should be fun to use. I raised my hand and quietly let out a breath of irritation.

 

“Okay sure…whatever.” Only a tiny hint of bitterness leaked through my voice. I noticed with some discomfort that I was wearing a hospital gown. No, not the time to worry about that stuff. 

 

“So uh…what’s going to happen to me now that I’ve said yes?” I asked him, feeling some amount of worry.

 

Stop with the creepy smile you perv…

 

The look on his face told me I hadn’t said that in my head like I had thought.

 

“Uh just saying smiling all mysterious like that could be taken in the wrong way.” Surprisingly he seemed to agree with me, with a small nod.

 

“Fair enough…now it will take some time to get the papers ready for you to leave.” He stood up, and I tilted my head at the new information. I didn’t understand what that meant, was he adopting me?

 

“I am not adopting you…if that is what you are thinking. But a close friend of mine is, and I’ve pulled a few strings to speed up the process. She will be your primary trainer and caretaker when I’m not around. She is a very skilled Huntress who can teach you a great deal.” I nodded, and he coughed politely standing up to leave.

 

“It’s time to take my leave young miss. You have a bright future ahead of you.” Just as I started to relax as he stepped out I froze again as he re entered the room with an almost sheepish expression.

 

“Oh there’s something else as well.” He rifled through the white backpack I had come with, and pulled it several of what looked like a huge heavy case filled with…

 

Solid State Drives? I guess that's why they weighed like half of my own weight. How the  _ fuck  _ did I run with something that big and not…never mind I tripped and was almost eaten alive.

 

He closed his mouth at my look and shook his head in disappointment. I suppose he realized I had no idea what was in those storage devices. There were a few books here as well, and I paled when I realized they were the alchemy books. He had another  _ frustrating  _ smirk on his face

 

“Perhaps you can tell me what this is?” He waved the book around and I sulked, also realizing this was the house from before. 

 

“You read it didn’t you?” He nodded and I palmed my face in response. “Then it’s  _ exactly  _ what it says it is. But don’t ask me how much I know since I  _ don’t _ know. In fact I’m quiet bereft of any memory in the first place.” His expression turned serious and he gave a once-over that made me fidget.

 

“It has something to do with the corpses doesn't it?” I flinched at his bluntness and I nodded, my own suspicions aside he must have looked around the house too before I woke up.

 

“Do…” I stopped my question, but he placed his hand on my shoulder and nodded.

 

“Do you know what happened to me? Why were those people all dead? Why can’t I remember everything? Just please…” I was already lying to him, I already had a horrible… _ horrible  _ glance of what had happened…but it was still incomplete. But why did the man turn from a kind of gruff person into a  _ monster? _

 

“I…I’m sorry to say I have little idea myself of what has happened. I dabbled in alchemy a  _ very  _ long time ago but…never to this extent. The only thing I can tell you is that an alchemical ritual did something to your soul.” I grasped my chest and remembered that terrible gateway…shuddering all the way. I pointed to the book in question and he shook his head. “If you’re asking if I can read it… I cannot as they seem to be in some kind of code as well as in a foreign language.” I froze and thought back to the book. The book was in…

 

Russian! Oh my god how the fuck does that make any…and I can understand it too. I also just realized how perfect it is, back on Earth well over a hundred million people could speak it, but here it’s unlikely anyone would. There were also some bits of Greek with some more complex arrays I had glanced at. So two languages that for whatever reason I could perfectly speak, read, and maybe write. I opened my mouth, and a quiet yawn made itself known.

 

Ozpin’s expression softened and he seemed to remember himself, placing the electronic devices away, and storing away the strange books.

 

“Perhaps this should be for another time miss Rose…” I nodded as my tiredness set in, a medically induced sleep didn’t count. “I will help you pack your possessions as well as…incite the proper rites for your family.” I closed my eyes…and sighed in relief at his fading footsteps.

 

What a strange word I’ve found myself in. The strange knowledge of alchemy almost certainly didn’t all come from me. Some of  _ their  _ knowledge must have bled into mine, while the rest could be from years of study. My field back home would have had a fair amount of chemistry involved. I steadied my breath and tried to take a nap again, failing.

 

T-That was really something wasn’t it? I looked around the room, and felt relief at the peace and quiet. It also gave me some time to start crying.

 

Don’t judge me…I…

 

I just wonder just  _ who  _ is going to be taking care of me?

 

***

W-What?

 

“Oh everything will be just fine Professor Ozpin, I know how important this must be for you. I will train and raise her to the best of my ability.”

 

My eyebrows twitched as Ozpin listened to a blonde women in her late 30s to early 40s. As to  _ why  _ they were twitching? She looked almost exactly like Glynda Goodwitch, with a few minor differences here and there. The shade of her green eyes is darker than her daughter who was standing stiffly behind her. Her outfit was more modest in some way, no cape at least. She wore a bright golden blouse paired with black tights that  _ really  _ fit her well. I turned to look at her daughter more closely curious to see if it was her. The girl looked a little awkward, and when she caught me staring gave me a small awkward wave. 

 

She was kind of cute…but she was still too young for me to feel much of anything other than that. But I decided to wave back enthusiastically, keep up the illusion of being a  _ relatively  _ normal child for a while longer. I had my doubts it would work for long, but pretending is fine with me.

 

Actually Glynda looked about 14 or so, so she had another three years to go to enter Beacon. I wonder if our Semblance’s are similar enough so she can help me. Probably not but the idea sounds nice if I’m going to be living with her in the same house. I kind of hope this doesn’t affect canon too much, as in anything during my first four years, I’m fine with changing everything after.

 

For a number of reasons…

 

“Um…hi.” I jolted as Glynda suddenly appeared to my left. She had practically teleported in the three or four seconds I had glanced away. I felt my lips lurk up into a small smile at her shyness. It was really quite adorable in fact, my grin rising further. She seemed to flush as she looked at me, and my head tilted in question. 

 

“You’re adorable…” I puffed my chest at the obvious truth and lifted up my hand to shake hers. That doesn't make any sense for a ten year old to do but I want to do it anyway. Glynda took my head, and I fiercely shook up and down a steady three times. Her expression was rather funny, and my grin grew more sardonic.

 

“What…have you never seen a kid give someone a handshake?” I said that in a cutesy tone that was easy to pull off at this age. Glynda twitched and I knew I could have a  _ little  _ fun with this. I could understand why my own brother would do that kind of shit. It’s  _ really  _ entertaining when the victim gets annoyed, all the little quirks they display while angered.

 

“Ahem…” But now wasn’t the best time for this. I turned to face my adoptive parent, who had a slightly strict look. She didn’t say anything about what I was doing, but I noticed the subtle smirk on her face. You know I’m noticing a lot more of people’s little expressions they make subconsciously. That’s surely a good thing, I’ve never been the best at that kind of junk and I need all the help I can get.

 

“H-Hi…” but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel nervous when Glynda’s mom actually paid attention to me. I interlaced my fingers as she walked even closer, her sizable stature now far more noticeable. Her stern look vanished and shifted into an uncomfortably loving one. She leaned down to face me with a light smile, and I smiled back, unsure of what to think.

 

“So I’m going to be the one to adopt you, is that okay?” I nodded strongly, thinking I could trust her. I mean Glynda Goodwitch is alive in canon isn’t she? Regardless we’re talking about a well trained Huntsmen who’s survived years against an endless horde of bloodthirsty monsters. If she can do that, she can certainly keep a kid safe and healthy. She offered her hand to me with a wider smile, and I took it with relatively little hesitation. I didn’t have anywhere else to go anymore…

 

“My name is Gilda Goodwitch.”

  
  



	2. Chapter Two: Mini Goddard

**Chapter Two: Mini Goddard**

 

It had been close to 3 weeks since I had arrived in this world and been found by Ozpin and adopted by Miss Senior Goodwitch. During that time I had been working with controlling my aura through the use of special fulgurite containers filled with a mix of spent Dust and sand. I would focus my aura into it to activate the Dust in a display of light. Gilda would vary the purity of the mix so I could learn better control over my aura. Especially since I was apparently gifted with a  _ prodigious  _ amount of aura. I hadn’t had much time to work on what Ozpin called a part of my “semblance.” I was studying my basic alchemy book extensively, and whenever Ozpin showed up practiced it, away from prying eyes. But I had figured out what my actual semblance was. It seemed to work similarly to Fate style Structural Grasp magecraft. 

 

I can essentially learn the structural composition and design of object by prolonged touch or concentration. I could also analyze that composition and learn how to increase its effectiveness which is badass as hell really. And in fact is the largest  _ boon  _ I’ve gotten so far, my Semblance was  _ literally  _ made for using Alchemy. I’ve also tested it out on a number of different objects including a water hose, which apparently works the same way as on earth. It’s got a pintle injector and everything…well sprayer. I can also use the whole Reinforcement part of it, though in most cases it’s just the usual aura enhancing of materials, with the exception of enhancing my senses.

 

Seeing from 4 km is pretty far out… and the way the semblance functions is fascinating. It works like a more  _ magical  _ ultrasonic flaw detector, a pulse of aura passing through whatever I’m analyzing. The entire blueprint seemingly downloaded into my mind, every little part that makes up the greater whole. Every flaw, every tiny imperfection became known to me. If someone had made it, I could even sense the history and memory of the creater or wielder. It would only work for most objects, but it wouldn’t be anything more than sensing the residue of emotions, the love, and hard work put in a device or item.

 

A semblance that could help someone understand everything…I wonder what that says about me…

 

Anyway…

 

I’ve also figured out what all those drives are, surprisingly Remnant electronics are pretty similar to our own. Just about a decade ahead of what we have now, electronically at least. But still on the  _ very  _ cutting edge of technology, storing like 300 Terabytes per each 160 gram drive. 

 

Which is just a…ridiculous amount of storage, and there are a lot of them. I’m 90% sure they used the same magic(alchemy…heh) Taiyang used to ship a  _ dog  _ in the mail along with the dog food… 

 

Stop going on a tangent, I haven’t opened any of them yet but I feel like I should. I just need a screen to use them, since these are actual hard drive and not just USBS. I also need a supply of Dust to power the drives…and I  _ think  _ Oz is working on it? I also found out my  _ carbyne  _ wall was more a mix of different allotropes that made it into armor. Otherwise the Grimm probably would have slashed through and mauled me. 

 

I opened my eyes, no longer able to relax in my new room. Turns out Goodwitch grew up in Patch. The house we were in was pretty big, it could easily fit twice the number of people it does, though my room was pretty bland, having a white wall and a soft carpeted floor. I was currently wearing a black sweatshirt with gym shorts, since they were quite comfy.

 

I was being home schooled mostly because we were nearing the end of the semester and it was a little late. But I was eventually going to go once the year starts in November. That was going to go…just  _ great. _

 

Much of my time that wasn’t spent getting my fitness and aura control up, or my free time which was usually spent  _ scrolling _ through a scroll, was used to cram in some History lessons. For obvious reasons my knowledge of Remnant history was minimal. Though most of my difficulties in adapting didn’t have to do with education or fitness but with more…social issues.

 

It was hard for me to mingle with the few kids I had met with the gulf in maturity, as well as their differing beliefs and norms. The only one I could really relate to was Glynda since we were far closer in mental age.  She was…interesting to talk to. Glynda was almost certainly trying  _ way  _ too hard, the awkwardness practically  _ rolled  _ off of her. She kept trying to be the cool…fun older sister but it didn’t click with her actual personality.

 

She was still doing it too….I was a little too shy to tell her to stop it. Her grins were so stiff and unnatural that I honestly thought she was going to shiv me in her sleep.

 

And here she comes now…

 

“ _ Heeyy  _ little sis…” I winced at the fake tone she was using, and prayed for the both of us. She was wearing a white blouse with black shorts, and I had enough. I couldn’t god damn take it anymore! Weeks of getting interrupted and feeling awkward! I fucking  _ hate  _ that icky feeling, it makes my hands clammy, I bite my lips more! It just makes everything f-feel worse, makes me think about…a-about…

 

“S-Summer…?” I sagged as Glynda’s expression changed, just feeling exhausted, and alone. She placed her hands on my shoulders as I felt tears well up again. I-I missed…

 

“H-Hey do you want to just talk?” I turned away from her but her hands held me in place. She gave me a grave look, and my lips quivered as my emotions… _ HEY! _

 

I rubbed the spot on my forehead where she had flicked me with her right index finger. I glared at her, feeling a flicker of  _ something  _ at her worried look. She tapped her feet as she waited for me to speak.

 

“Okay sure why not?” I decided to just go with the flow. There was nothing I could do now to fix what had happened to me. I started to follow Glynda’s gaze as she looked at a book I had been using for drawing, just something to distract. I was grateful that my skills had been transferred with my soul. She glanced at as if asking for permission and I nodded my permission. Her face softened as she paged through dozens of drawings and scribbles. Some of which had been arrays I was practicing with. She stopped at one drawing, and I drew closer since she wanted to ask me something. She pointed to a single simplified drawing of a gas-generator rocket and a staged combustion rocket that I remembered next to an Earth control array.

 

“They’re just some diagrams…that’s all.” I felt like this was a bad idea, but I just  _ needed  _ someone to talk to about this kind of stuff. I wasn’t really aiming for being an engineer, more something in the biological field. But that didn’t mean I didn’t find aerospace engineering…no engineering in general fascinating. I pretty much read whatever I could on any subject, though my expertise would only really be surface level. I knew some of the basics of how batteries work, a few of the components here and there of rockets and electric motors. 

 

Like switched reluctance motors, aluminum or copper rotor induction motors…DC brushed motors etc. I had started memorizing some of the rough formulations of nitroglycerin and guncotton. How the properties of nanomaterials are nearly  _ impossible  _ to maintain at macromolecular levels. In fact my knowledge in all of that expanded massively…having read through the entirety of a Chemistry 101 textbook as well a Biology textbook, and an Engineering textbook. Every single one of them written in Russian. A nice refresher…and it made the headaches go away too…

 

“Hello…” I snapped out of my internal rant and decided to explain a bit about the drawings.

 

“Sorry…um those are designs for rockets.” Glynda’s eyes twinkled with curiosity and possibly even excitement. I could also see a wince though for reasons I already knew. Dust ceased to work outside of atmosphere for whatever god awful reason, maybe even literally if those god-brothers are still around.

 

“They’re really cool…but Dust doesn’t—.

 

“Work outside of atmosphere I know. Do these rockets look like they use Dust!” Oh crap Glynda is giving me a weird look…I messed up! But she only looks like she had more questions? She pointed to the drawings again.

 

“Um…you could use a different fuel for the engines…” She nodded along, a spark shining in her eyes. “It could use liquid oxygen with some form of hydrocarbon like methane or kerosene that you then combust and throw behind your rocket. But to throw your fuel and oxidizer at a high enough speed you need a Turbopump, like the pump on a centrifugal water pump.” Her attention was now completely on me, and I felt sweat fall down. Thank god they still had water pumps…

 

“The turbine sucks in fuel and throws it to the side using centrifugal force.”

 

“Centripetal…” I rolled my eyes at her nitpicky nature, not that she was wrong remembering that Centrifugal force isn’t an actual real force. 

 

“Right…so after that it’s pushed through multiple slits and then collected by an outside tube that sends it the reaction chamber.” I circled the chamber with red crayon for emphasis. “To power that turbine another smaller rocket engine…which can be powered a number of different ways. Though one way would be to use some of the fuel from the normal rocket.”

 

I flushed as Glynda grabbed my cheeks with stars practically in her eyes. I grinned awkwardly as her face split into a wide smile of affection and awe. 

 

“You’re so…smart! I didn’t expect it, but that’s my fault for being so strange.” I shrugged and she continued to babble an apology. Young Glynda was a surprisingly nervous little fella at this age. I knew looks were deceiving though, I had seen glimpses of  _ her  _ training and it was pretty frightening. Seeing a 14 year old lift a small truck with her goddamn mind is just amazing. I froze as the door creaked open, and I was forced to face a flabbergasted Gilda. 

 

“Hello miss…” She schooled her expression and took a deep breath to calm her nerves I’m guessing. She lifted up her hand and I passed my notebook with some hesitance. She page through the book much like her daughter previously did. There was an unreadable expression on her face, while she looked through it. I wondered if I had done something wrong.

 

“This is…it’s amazing.” I rolled my eyes, I might know the very basics of this but I’m no rocket scientist. People from NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin have forgotten more than I’ve ever learned in my entire life. It did make me wonder how those experiments with Dust rockets worked out. Did they use Fire Dust in some kind of single staged solid-fuel rocket? I wonder if they ever tried just injecting aura in to them? I need to pay attention…stop getting stuck in your own head.

 

“Meh…” I shrugged, and my guardian started eyeing the carefully stored set of drives with a hint of ambition. 

 

“Still…this is surprisingly simple.”

 

I wouldn’t say that, it takes a massive amount of infrastructure and money available only to the largest and richest Kingdoms like Atlas and Vale. And in our case it’s only been in the last ten(20?) years back back home that more advanced and less expensive rockets have started being developed. You have the LOX-RP-1 burning gas-generator Merlin with one of the highest thrust to weight ratio rocket engines ever. It’s successor in the full flow staged combustion LCH4/LOX engines. You have Blue Origins BE-3 and BE-4 going on, and you have the…SLS.

 

“What’s with that sour look on your face?” Glynda sounded confused and I didn’t answer. 20 billion dollars of taxpayer money for a rocket that may or not ever launch more than a few times. SpaceX and Blue Origin have a better chance of having their rocket be used more than twice a year, and that’s sad. All that money and time on a rocket that could be used on either designing a new rocket, or on greater amounts of rover and probe missions throughout the solar system.

 

“Well at least you’re being more open…but perhaps we should find out what is in those drives? A little girl couldn’t have learned all of they information on their own.” She looked worried and retrieved a Scroll, though it didn’t looked as advanced as RWBY’s models, which made sense this was nearly 30 years before then. Gilda looked a little sheepish and my eyebrows rose up, waiting for her to reply. She sighed with exasperation, and pointed to a  _ certain  _ wizards number:

 

“We have to call Ozpin.”

 

***

In only a week Ozpin had managed to set up an entire server rack using the mysterious drives, plus an untold number of others from the old house He also added a Lightning Dust based power source to turn them on, and acquired a single screen to view whatever was on it. Gilda was currently teaching a class back at Signal and I was left alone with the old man. I even got to eat a good meal with some scrambled eggs and ham I had cooked. My basic cooking skills were something I had kept thank god, since Gilda was  _ shit  _ at cooking. But anything I couldn’t cook Glynda did, and it was actually pretty good too. I mean really  _ how  _ the hell do you set a stove on fire when’s it underwater?

 

I hesitantly grabbed the computer like screen and felt a little tingle as I activated my semblance. The screen was actually a fairly conventional LCD screen of all things, though I could sense the various Dust types interlaid through its metal.

 

“Young lady…you should know it’s fine to act like yourself.” I felt a twitch coming on at the knowing look on his smug face. I shook my head, getting sick of his all knowing act. 

 

“Could you stop that you stupid w—wize guy!” He raised an eyebrows and I pitched the bridge of my nose, counting under my breath. There’s no need to get angry at the  _ annoying  _ wizard. I awkwardly turned over to the computer and it made me wonder something… 

 

“Where the hell did they get these computers in the middle of nowhere?”

 

“Perhaps they made them? They were alchemists, and very skilled ones at that.” I frowned at the idea. I’m not sure that kind of stuff was actually possible, but then again this Alchemy doesn't really follow the exact same rules as FMA. This brand of alchemy is likely unique to this world, as well as whatever interconnected multiverse may exist. Heck in another more advanced book I swore I saw something about nuclear fusion and fission. It’s also a little more flexible in the kind of symbols you can use. The only reason everything is so esoteric is to hide what the circles and arrays do.

 

The general purpose arrays are more interesting however, and my  _ very  _ comfortable gloves are a variant of such, but only much,  _ much  _ more advanced. Named the Universal Zero…something array, I swore I had seen it somewhere at least twice before. Somehow I could understand it’s meaning well enough to use for almost anything…theoretically I mean. I’ve been limited to deconstruction and reconstruction for now. Though I did manage to make an explosion by creating various nitrogen compounds(nitroglycerin) from the air and then increasing the oxygen content. Also that time with the backyard pool…

 

It’s pretty cool to see the equivalent of several tons of TNT explode in a fiery blast of death. Gilda was  _ pissed  _ though and I stored the gloves away of my own accord. I shouldn’t have done something so incredibly stupid. Disassembling water into its basic components is  _ not _ the best plan. I still wondered about how the hell Dust works, though I have some theories I want to check up on. I just need to do some experiments, have to figure out a procedure of some sort.

 

“Excuse me?” I flushed and turned to turn on the computer screen. I wasn’t sure how well it would work but whatever. The screen slowly turned on, and I tilted my head at the resemblance to macOS. It was something intimately…familiar, and for a moment I could pretend that I was home. Instead of being killed, my soul dragged into another universe, and having certain… _ parts  _ instead.

 

The server easily contained millions, maybe even tens of millions of files, most of them were also in Russian. A lot of them were basically just entire Encyclopedias about…Earth. Whatever they did to bring me here, they must have brought knowledge from my home too. It’s almost entirely text and what looked like code? I think they downloaded the entire of GitHub, as well as a few other things too. It’s unlikely I’ll ever get or understand the entirety of this database. Ozpin looked fascinated, and it  _ was _ honestly quite impressive. If it wasn’t obtained through hurting or killing people, it would be a true marvel.

 

“Just realized you won’t be able to read this…” Ozpin sounded disappointed, and I clicked through a number of files, until I stopped at one…an archived site about a 250 pound thrust kerosene LOX rocket, and someone who had designed a pintle injector. I tilted my head as I got a crazy idea, I wonder if I could build those rockets…myself. I could hold my aura up a lot more easily and a lot longer than before. If normal squishy humans could build rockets without blowing themselves up, then an aura user can surely do better. Ozpin gave me a dubious look…and I decided to use my ultimate weapon. 

 

I gave him the saddest most pathetic look I could ever give him…I could see the sweat slowly pour down his face, as I made my lips wobble. Hey if you’ve been gifted with cuteness, you better well use it. He glanced away, and I knew I had achieved victory.

 

“I don’t believe Gilda will have an issue with some experimenting…but she’s going to be away on a mission, and I have my school to take care of.” 

 

I grinned as I already had a solution for that. Someone who I had been ignoring for a very long amount of time.

 

***

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I nodded my head as an anxious Glynda followed my careful reading of what would be my new hobby. I had carefully and lovingly converted a book about how to design, build, and test small liquid fuel rockets into paper text. That’s basically the little of the book, and I  _ think  _ dates back to the 60s. I was going with the 250 lb thrust engine from that website , but learning the various equations used for rocketry was important. And as to how we were building a potential cloud cutting rocket.

 

Gilda might be a terrible cook, buts she’s a bit of an engineering freak. I hadn’t bothered going in before, but there’s a huge machine shop behind the house…full of  _ dozens  _ of machines.

 

Seriously Glynda’s mom must be really bringing in the dough to have all of this stuff. I could see that they did have things like electric motors, and  _ maybe  _ hydraulics. I had over the next one to two days, spent as much time as possible to get the parts needed, as well as figure out how to use the machinery here. For the first rocket it was Glynda who was machining them out, since she had experience with them. This rocket needs a pretty wide range of tools to built it, things like arc welders, torches, various other kinds of machinery such as a lathe.

 

Which this place is full of, to my great enjoyment. But their torches use fire Dust instead of oxygen mixed with a gas, and they power the arc welders with Dust too. All the machines are dust enhanced as well…making them much stronger and longer lasting than normal materials, rather than the cheaper and weaker Dust smelted materials.

 

As to what that means…well for much of Remnant’s history humanity used Burn dust to smelt ore down into various metals. While it was as if not more effective than coal or natural gas, the materials were weak in comparison to what they had now. Only aura would keep weapons forged with them, from shattering apart. However doing so cost extra aura to reinforce them, and made their homes too fragile to protect them from the Grimm  _ or  _ Huntsmen.

 

Until a brilliant faunus who’s name has been nearly forgotten discovered Dust Alloying. The name isn’t entirely accurate of course, but it’s close enough in layman's terms. First they would melt the metal in the usual method and add  _ tiny  _ amounts of active Earth dust. The metal would become massively enhanced in several ways. One the metal’s shape would become nearly atomically perfect, similar to monocrystalline whiskers, and that would include all the materials within the metal. So for example carbon steel would become a mix of various carbon allotropes and pure iron, similar to Covetic materials back on Earth. Early versions weren’t much stronger than carbon fiber, but aura took care of that anyway.

 

The second addition was that they had the same effect as Aura has on materials, though not quite as strong. From what I can tell Aura isn’t really a force field, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to feel pain. And  _ trust _ me I would know… 

 

Aura functions more like a structural integrity field, our light reacting to an attack, and in the first split second holding onto our molecules. It would keep the intense forces we were exposed to, from ripping us into tiny splashes of red on the ground. That feature would be more than useful for building a liquid fueled rocket.

 

“So uh…how it’s going?” I asked Glynda curiously as she input the the program into the somewhat crude CNC lathe. We could have made them with the manual ones, and at some point we will but…I wanted to make a couple. 

 

We had also previously worked on the test stand using various leftovers from Gilda’s own stuff. It had some Ice Dust based fire extinguishers and everything! I turned back to Glynda as she hummed contemplatively. 

 

“Pretty well actually.” She was now inputting what was needed for the injector and we waited. I gave her a pleading look…and she sighed.

 

Over the next few hours we worked on getting all the parts in. All the while Glynda was teaching me how to use the various machines, which was… _ nice.  _ In the end we ended up making  _ several  _ combustion chambers and injector plates. Everything else wouldn’t come in for a couple more days. I touched every chamber to check the structural integrity and nodded in satisfaction.

 

“Everything seems…undamaged here.” The future witch opened her mouth to reply until a loud growl interrupted us. I grabbed my needy stomach, flushing as my embarrassment  _ skyrocketed _ . Glynda grinned with a dab of amusement, and we left the shop, washing our hands and various other implements.

 

Within about 30 minutes Glynda had set up a nice soup, a mix of carrots, boiled potatoes, rice, and chicken. I sat on the large wooden chair, my legs nervously moving back and forth. I had watched curiously as she cooked it up, and slowly started to memorize the recipe in my head. I had the idea of trying to cook using an alchemical circle. It actually did seem to be possible but I would have to write some instructions to keep it right. Glynda frowned and swatted me with a spoon, I heard and felt the painful click of metal on my forehead.

 

_ OWW. _

 

“Don’t do that!” I snarled as my temper got the better of me. Glynda had a smug expression on her face, and I blew the hair out of my face. 

 

I was still having a hard time with the long hair, I was used to my hair never ever reaching past my eyebrows. Glynda chuckled and gestured for me to come closer, I tentatively obliged, and she pulled out a hair clip. I decided to be polite and remained still as she grabbed my hair forming it into a ponytail.

 

“Better?” I nodded and grabbed a spoon, quirking a brow. She giggled and grabbed her own spoon, digging in to her food. 

 

Her cooking is  _ great  _ as always, it’s too bad she’ll only be around for another two years. I thought she was 14, but she’s actually 15 years old now meaning the time we have will be a little limited. I’m 11 year old, and we had found that out through finding an journal with my birth date.

 

October 17th, same as my birthday from  _ Before _ . Both had tried to set up a birthdate once they found out, but I denied their efforts not feeling in the mood. They were… _ okay  _ with it but I could tell they still wanted to help.

 

“Hmm…” I ate comfortablely, the soup warming my belly. I couldn’t help but love Glynda’s cooking and I was thinking of asking her how. I could already make a few things here and there but…well I think it would be nice.

 

“Umm…” I frowned at the serious expression on her face, and steepled my hands waiting for her to respond. She mulled it over in her head, until her look became determined. “You know…school is going to be starting pretty soon for you.”

 

_ Oh _ right…that’s going to be a thing. I sweat a bit at her guilt filled expression and I reassured her with some jazz hands. I have no idea why I think that would help but…well it doesn't matter too much.

 

“Um it’s fine I’m okay.” She looked relieved and I gave her a small smile as reassurance. I had been thinking about that for a while…school should be starting back up in November 6th I think? It’s a pretty odd date to start school, but that’s just how it is. That was about a week away, more than enough time to finish what we were doing here. The rocket engine should be done once we set everything up in three days. We'll do some tests since they’ve already gotten all my school supplies.

 

Wonder if this will become the basis of rocket lockers…using Dust of course, cryogenic liquids isn’t the most reliable propellant for a flying locker. I huffed and turned back to face my…sister(?), caretaker?

 

Friend…I’ll go with friend.

 

“So you’re going to be alright going to a public school? I mean you really don’t need it, with how advanced you are in your education but…” I nodded my head, I still need to get my History up, and  _ eventually  _ get my math beyond high school algebra. I remember taking English 114, and Algebra 60, as well as Political Science I believe?

 

I feel like I should look for some electives on Aerodynamics once I’m in middle school, but some further research has told me they’re actually a little bit behind us on that curve. Not by much really, and it’s only in the narrow field of supersonic and hypersonic craft. I wonder if I can take a more advanced course especially with how boring class will be, since I had to sit down to take an aptitude test yesterday and ended up getting excused from most of the classes I no longer need.

 

“If you’re sure.” I would have nodded again, but I was eating my food and nothing would get in my way. It too me another three minutes to finish off my soup, sipping the broth with it. I placed it down on the table once I was done.

 

Before I could say anything she grabbed my plate, diligently washing it in the sink. I curled my hands feeling like maybe I needed to help, but didn’t say anything. Glynda was humming and I sensed that she was happy in some way. She turned her neck the slightest so she could catch my furious eye. Her neutral expression had shifted into a kind grin, and I fidgeted. I smiled anyway though, no reason not to.

 

“Thanks…” She tilted her head in confusion and my lips pulled up into a full on grin. “For…indulging me and just well…acting  _ normal.” _

 

“You’re welcome…” 

 

I guess we should get back to teaching me then Miss Goodwitch. But first I want you to teach me…how to wash plates. Even if it’s not necessary well…

 

Never mind…now let’s get to it!

 

***

 

I giggled in excitement as we dug a small hole and flattened it, placing the concrete shield deflector in the right spot. Glynda also placed the test stand in the correct spot, practicing her Telekinesis. The test stand was quite large, and I placed my hands on my hips in pride at our achievement. Now the outside test stand was actually for later vertical testing, we were currently in the horizontal test phase. This would be for later use… _ moving  _ on. We walked away, but not before placing a tent to protect them from the elements. 

 

We turned our attention to a shed that contained the  _ other  _ test stand. There the engine was sitting attached to the load cell, with a blast shield there to protect us from shrapnel. It had taken us all day two days ago to set up the piping, test the electronics, yada yada yada…then we did a cold flow test, and then checked to see if there was any damage.

 

Now it was the next day…and it was ready for the hot fire test. Hopefully we won't get a hard start, don’t want any unplanned disassembly going on here. I hid behind a computer, and my blonde friend pressed the button to begin. A loud rumbling roar began as the fuel and oxidizer mixed and were then lit by the igniter. A spark torch igniter in fact…

 

The air continued to vibrate, and I waited for something to go wrong…but after 15 seconds of noise and light, the test was successfully stopped. I grinned as I realized I had just built a rocket in a week. Glynda was grinning too, and I felt oddly happy. 

 

I ended up pulling her into a hug… she stiffened but wrapped her arms around me after a few moments. My grin weakened since I knew we weren’t done yet. While the engines weren’t powered by Dust, everything else was. I needed an alternate power source, maybe a lithium ion battery for the electronics? I mean they’ve got capacitors, even if not quiet as good as batteries. Well they still get 100wh/kg so it’s not half bad. But really the best…and probably quickest way would be to figure out a way to make Dust function outside of the atmosphere. But never mind all that, let’s talk to Goodwitch.

 

“Heh thanks big sis!” Her eyes sparkled with happiness and even if I didn’t quite consider herself that yet. I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for me to really feel that way. She was really a good person…even without knowing what she would one day become, I could just  _ feel  _ it. I’m not some complete optimist, but I do like to think that humanity can do a little better.

 

“You’re welcome…I was glad to help.” She murmured gently and I felt a yawn come on. I didn’t have the same endurance to stay awake like I used to as a child. I let out a yelp, as she picked me up dragging me to my room. I went limp, knowing there was nothing I could do to save myself. 

 

I was doomed…

 

*** 

 

I was left alone in my room, and given a plain pair of pajamas. Luckily both my adoptive relatives understood that I wasn’t into girly cute wear. So I got a simple blue pajama sweater with black pants. My socks were plain black too…

 

Now how was I going to do this? I lifted up my dirty shirt leaving it in a laundry pile for later cleaning. I didn’t wear any undertop, but with how much the universe hates me I doubt it will last for long. I put it on, and then put on my pants after again changing.

 

“Stupid…reincarnation…dumb death…” I grumbled as I climbed into my cozy bed, snuggling into the warm furry wolf pelt style blanket. I was still a little shell shocked after all, and it was difficult to adjust to a body that so  _ different  _ from what I used to have.

 

Hopefully…everything would get better from here on out.

  
  



	3. Chapter Three: First Day at Patch Elementary

**Chapter Three: First Day at Patch Elementary**

 

God damn it do I really need to wear this shit!? For my first day outfit those little twerps had forced me to wear a skirt to see “how I liked it.” It was a long(thank god) grey skirt paired with a black blouse with white outlines. I was also allowed to wear a white cloak I had with some difficulty made for myself for this. It was actually store bought in black, but I practiced my alchemy and after a few failed attempts, turned it white and made it tougher and more durable.

 

I kept the gloves, so I ended up being a mix of red, white, grey, and black. The school I had joined was a school known for having a high ratio of aura users per person. For classes I was taking History, a Marksmanship class, and Polearm Technique. Things like Aura Awareness and Weapon Smithing were getting taken care of by Gilda when she had the time, and Glynda would help me out too. They would also practice with my two Hunters electives at home.

 

For my courses I was taking I didn’t have to bring in too many academic supplies, since I only had my History class to worry about. For everything else I ended up getting online college courses they apparently had. So I was learning early college level Math, and Chemistry through the alchemy books as well as my semblance. In the case of Chemistry I should figure it out in around a year or so, since quite a bit of acquired knowledge is leaking through. Math would take longer maybe two or three years. Where I would really need to be catching up was in various combat related courses. I didn’t have more than a hint of training in this body. I was physically healthy…but well, it wasn’t that much better than my old one.

 

As to how that would work…well it would be a  _ lot  _ of work to balance so many subjects but run again… I was already used to the relative  _ vigor  _ of college before so it wouldn’t take long for me to adapt to an easier pace. But it’s not like I had any friends to spend time with  _ anyway. _ But that’s besides the point, now I’ll just sit here until class starts. Okay let me check the time on this mechanical watch…

 

_ 7:46 AM _

 

I still have about 24 minutes until class starts then…hmm is there someone talking? I glanced in the direction of the voice, and quirked an eyebrow as some boys of undiscript appearance urged on some blonde kid. The gaggle froze at my sight and I rolled my eyes at their antics. I decided to draw some alchemy circles to practice starting with the basics.

 

Okay…circle, add the triangle/any polygon with the vertices touching the circle…

 

Circle again, this time the shape reaches outside the circle.

 

Again…this time the triangle goes past one circle but stops at another…

 

“Hey…” I felt a twitch come on as a kid, a boy from the sound of it talked to me. I turned around to face him, my irritation likely showing on my face based on his expression. It was the blonde kid again and he seemed  _ awfully  _ familiar almost like I had met him before.

 

“What do you want?” He flinched and I felt that maybe I was being a little too harsh. Whoever the kid was he didn’t have the same look in his eyes as his “friends” did, I felt like they were leering at me. I took a closer look at the kid as he stumbled on my question.

 

He was around the same height as me, about 5 foot two inches of 1.57 meters for metric users. He had messy blonde hair as I had previously mentioned but also a pair of kind and gentle blue, almost lilac eyes. The kid was wearing some brain cargo shorts with a tan dress shirt. Other than that he was almost plain, even then he seemed  _ memorable. _

 

“Um… what are you drawing?” The other kids groaned and started to leave and I moved my butt over giving him room to see. Since he wasn’t being a total dick I  _ suppose  _ he could be friends with little old me. He sat down, glancing at me as if to ask permission. I nodded and he sat sat down  _ rather  _ close, he scooted over quickly though. So I doubt he meant anything by it.

 

“Just a hobby…from a book  _ supposedly  _ about Alchemy.” His eyes lit up, and his grin widened as I talked to him. “It’s fun a fun thing to think about, to learn about those symbols, to just make just  _ stuff  _ I guess. Kind of of hard for me to describe.”

 

He nodded and pointed to the circles I had just drawn. “Uh what do they mean? Like how are they supposed to work?”

 

Well…someone's interested in the mystic science of Alchemy. My grin had widened some more at the interest he was displaying. I might not  _ need  _ people as much as others, but having at least one other person to talk to was nice.

 

“Well this is just about the construction of a transmutation circle…the way the circle is drawn changes the effect…outcome I suppose.” He let out an affirmative “huh.” and I smiled as I continued. “The circle is the first step, it represents the balance of power and the steady flow of power. When you add a shape that touches the circle it means the reaction takes place within the array and kept stable.”

 

“Wow whoever made this book you’re talking about. They’re  _ really  _ committed.” He paused and pointed to another drawing.

 

“Oh the extending shape is when the reaction will be taking place  _ outside _ the array, like to build a wall. And when the polygon extends past one circle but stops at another, the transmutation will extend to the next object.”

 

I tilted my head to look at him in the eye and was taken back by his enthusiasm. He grinned showing off his straight well cleaned teeth, he looked rather happy to talk to me.

 

“My names Taiyang Xiao Long…But you can call me Tai.” He lifted his hand as to shake my hand, though I think he was only trying to greet me.  _ And  _ oh dammit I already met one of the members of team STRQ after being here for only a few weeks(well technically 11 years but still…)

 

But…he seems nice.

 

“My name is Summer.”

 

***

 

Our nice chat ended up taking the entirety of the 20 something minutes we had left, but good for me that Taiyang knew where my first class was. Now what was it? Not History that’s third period, is it…? Oh right it was the Marksmanship class. I was trailing him since he ultimately knew the way, and I heard  _ very  _ quiet whispers from my classmates. Apparently Gilda was a well known Huntress around these parts, so her adopting someone was a bit of a big deal.

 

Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much of a problem or else it was going to get  _ really  _ annoying. I curled my hands in a little bit of worry as we approached the door of the room. Tai courteously opened the door for me and I quirked my eyebrow at him. He ushered me in with an innocent look, and sighed. I think he was just  being a nice guy then. Ultimately I had no issues with that so I hesitantly walked in with him at my back.

 

I froze as 24 heads jolted up, and my nose started twitching as about a sixth of them had an extra  _ appendage  _ that swiveled in my direction as their owners faced me. Now that didn’t account for other students who had other extra things added on, whether a tail or odd skin markings. I found an almost empty table, with only a bunny faunus on the left seat of the three person table. I ended up trapped between her and Taiyang.

 

The teacher was a  _ really  _ old guy, he looked kind of like what a stereotypical Viking was considered to look like. He was gigantic too, probably Yatsuhashi sized or bigger even. He was definitely heavier by a wide margin… His hair was a wild red, and there was a small glint in his electric blue eyes I couldn’t really identify. The beefy man coughed and the children all turned to face him. I glanced at the girl who quivered at my look. 

 

Way to get rid of certain stereotypes kiddo…Anyway the girl was a  _ tiny  _ thing, maybe about 4’7 and really lanky. Her face was round shaped, and she had lips that were pursed into worry. Her eyes were almond shaped with light blue eyes and long eyelashes. Her hair was a dark brown, and she was fidgeting just the slightest. There was something about the way she looked that felt oddly familiar…

 

Maybe I should talk to her? I think I might be scaring her, and I don’t want her to worry over nothing. I reached for her slightly to reassure her until…a  _ pulse  _ of aura left my fingertips. 

 

“65% Oxygen, 20% Carbon…” I covered my mouth as a spiel of elements poured from my mouth. Thankfully it had gone unnoticed by everyone other than the bunny girl and Taiyang and I doubt either would say anything. The moment I had gotten within half a foot, my aura had latched on to the girl. It didn’t do anything other…than tell me the entire makeup of her body, the healed crack on her left uppermost rib, that her left ear had been broken about six months ago, and a flicker of  _ vague  _ emotion.

 

I flushed at the suspicious look she was giving me. I hadn’t meant to do that! I didn’t even know I  _ could  _ do that so easily. I have no idea why I hadn’t wondered just  _ what  _ my semblance really is then…some form of Aura manipulation semblance maybe. But it seemed able to pick up some…only some of the trace emotions left behind, so it could be a mind semblance?

 

Wait focus! The teacher just started talking! 

 

“Ahem students! Welcome to Marksmanship class!” His deep voice boomed, almost shaking the room with its power. The other students faced the…possible retired Huntsmen with curiosity. “Here is where you will all be learning about the intricacies of using a gun…as well as how to use strategy and tactics during a fight.” The students all nodded following along with surprising eagerness.

 

“Now I believe…”

 

I almost…but thankfully not quite glazed over his introduction, which was mainly introducing himself as Borr Svell. He was a recently retired Huntsmen after tangling with a powerful ancient Grimm finally pushed him past the edge. While he wasn’t going to die any soon, he was no longer in the condition to hunt much Grimm anymore.

 

In the end the class was at least for the first day rather simple…just learning the basics of well… _ using _ a gun. You know just learning the right stance, not to put the barrel to someone’s face like a brain dead idiot, maintenance of a weapon that sort of thing. He also asked what  _ type  _ of gun we would like to learn to use. Since a great percentage of people who took these classes became either Huntsmen, militia or in the rarer cases military, it was good to know what we wanted to specialize in. We tested it out with Pistols first…but they felt too…small, nothing about it felt right. Besides the fact that Pistols are usually kind of shit against Grimm, and have a rather short range. If I’m going to fight Grimm it’s going to be from a mile away if I can.

 

Instead I was holding a .22 caliber rifle equivalent and placing the butt of the gun against my shoulder. I was in what he called the prone position and was staring through the scope of the basal gun. Which was honestly kind of easy to use, at least for keeping it steady. Now we weren’t actually shooting, only learning/practicing the various positions, after a  _ long  _ talk about everything else. Heck this thing wasn’t even an actual gun…it was built to feel and look like one, but…

 

Well Structural Analysis kind of tells me the truth just by touching the “gun”. Honestly Dust weapons are quite interesting in how similar they really are to modern firearms if you ignore the elemental effects. They propel a metal bullet through a powerful explosion, usually Fire or sometimes Wind Dust at over the speed of sound. The bullets are  _ usually  _ made of lead, thought there are special rounds almost entirely made of Dust, something like an explosive round perhaps…

 

The propellant itself was triggered through a  _ tiny  _ amount of high purity electric Dust. Basically it’s what they have as a primer in this world, very interesting but I wonder if I could cut out the middle man.

 

I put the rifle down as the teacher coughed twice and passed it another student behind me. Yeah for me the rifle was what felt right, and I think it was what I going to for for when…

 

“Hey! You have History next right? Can you see if we have the same teacher next period?” A brief glance at my schedule sheet told me that I did  _ not  _ have a History class next period. I shook my head and his face sank into an innocent puppy like look. I glanced away, scratching the back of my neck as I felt my cheeks turn red.

 

“S-Sorry But my next class is Polearm technique.” He looked mildly dejected and I scrambled to fix my mistake. “But we could talk uhh later…if you want.” He flashed me a bright grin, and I felt another rush of heat reach my ears. This kid(even if I am a kid) was going to be the death of me.

 

“Okay! We could hang out after school, I’m taking an Open Handed course, maybe we can share some tips?” I nodded and he looked even happier. At the least I was making some new friends. The bell rung and out teacher dismissed us, though he told me to wait for a moment.

 

“Uh why?” I asked the tall teacher with a smidge of confusion. The former Huntsmen gave a small smile and I took another step forward.

 

“You’re new here aren’t you? And I overheard that you’re next class is Polearm Technique.”

 

“Uh yeah?” I had an idea of why he was asking me but I wanted him to tell me just to be sure. 

 

“Well I’m the teacher for that class!” Borr(seriously) sounded proud of himself and I had to give him  _ some  _ props. He had to know his stuff or else humanity was in a much more precarious position than I once thought. He gestured with his meaty hands to follow and I did with some misgivings. We left the practice range and I could just make out, another building that looked vaguely like a gym of some sort. I could hear some more some excited chattering and pursed my lips. I wasn’t sure how the children here would act, whether or not they would be nice or not.

 

I didn’t necessarily want to make many friends, but I think I would have a better time if they weren’t a bunch of dicks. Or else it would be a  _ long  _ couple of years.

 

Someone would probably ask why I decided to get a Polearm class rather than anything else. Well the main reason for me was that polearms near the beginning are much easier to learn than other weapons like swords, and have a greater amount of reach too. I have no idea how well this would work against Huntsmen. But I  _ would  _ like to keep a Grimm from ripping my face off thank you very much. It would also be a fairly simple modification to a gun, just add two same shaped blades above and below the barrel and telescope the butt to form the pole. This place must really be getting to me if I’m saying that making a gun spear is simple.

 

There was a third reason though…but it felt hard to describe. But a  _ feeling  _ inside of me, within my soul you could say. Compelled me such weapons, and it was only exacerbated the one time I made a metallic pole using the earth alchemy array. When I held it in my hand, it just seemed natural like something I always had. My hands even shifted into the correct position. Almost like I had used a Polearm my entire life.

 

Gilda had explained it to me once when I rushed to her overwhelmed and confused. She said it had to do with aura. Aura, the soul offered so much potential and power, but it did have its…little quirks here and there. She said that the soul, that aura had some sentience of its own, and certain methods, certain weapons would just  _ click. _ Heck the next time I tried another pole I managed to throw it like an experienced spear thrower. Of course it was only a familiarity with the weapon, to hone that impulse you would still need intensive training to find that right. 

 

Fortunately for me that my aura and my mind seem to be pretty aligned, because during  _ Before _ I had become greatly interested in all the various Polearms as well their old teachers, like Meyers, Liechtenauer…

 

“We’re here!” I hummed absently and and stepped away from the man and approached a gaggle of children. They seemed to shrink back, and I had a sick feeling in my stomach. For whatever reason no one wanted to approach me, and it was annoying the hell out of me that I didn’t know why. I was getting some bad vibes, but there was nothing I could do. Only the one faunus girl and Taiyang were willing to approach me. But that bunny girl was also terrified of me if for different reasons. She wouldn’t be any help against  _ whatever  _ this is. 

 

Our teacher had a dark look on his face but schooled his expression, stopping anyone but me from noticing. I’m sure my eyes lit up when I noticed the bunny girl out of the corner of my eye. She stammered as I got within a few steps of her, but I heard her quietly admonish herself. 

 

“H-Hi I’m Umber.” She muttered cutely, and I felt a grin grow on my face. She was completely adorable in every way imaginable.

 

“Well I’m Summer Rose.” Well technically Summer  _ Flamel  _ Rose but I didn’t want to chance someone knowing him. From what I could scrounge up he and my birth mother were natives to a heavily Grimm infested area on the Dragon continent, what had once been the last bastion of Alchemy. Other than Ozpin and I, Alchemy in every sense of the word is a dead and forgotten art.

 

Kind of sad really…but maybe one day I could help revive it. It could be just what Remnant needs to push back the Grimm even further. The bunny girl tilted her head and I refocused on making “friends.” 

 

“It’s nice to meet you.” Her face lit up at my friendly greeting and I wondered what I had done to make her so happy. “So, you want to learn how to use a Polearm?”

 

“Yep,” her upper ears twitched and I felt the strange urge to touch them. But that would be incredibly rude. “It’s just a weapons that’s really  _ clicked  _ with me you know?”

 

I perked up in an instant at her reply. “Yep… _ definitely! _ ” I felt an odd dance in my step as my excitement flowed down from my stomach and into my legs and feet. Which was not that different from back  _ Before _ whenever I was in a particularly good mood, heck any chance I got in private I would use to listen to music and…um dance around. That was pretty much the only manner I had of expressing myself, my excitement and energy tended to drop among large crowds.

 

But honestly I felt pretty good right now. I made two friends, and I was on my way to…

 

Something…

 

“Are you okay?” My bouncing stopped and I calmed myself not wanting to weird her out. I had the odd habit of bouncing in this body whenever I got happy, some of my old habits seemed to have returned more fiercely. I’ve even found myself  _ skipping  _ when I’m excited enough. But it’s not like I haven’t done it before.

 

“Yeah,” My eyes glanced over to the tall redhead teacher as he coughed. Umber straightened up. “We can talk more later, our teacher is talking.” She gave an emphatic thumbs up, and I held my hands together waiting patiently.

 

“Hello my tiny friends!” I had the urge the roll my eyes but held myself back. No need to be rude, to someone who didn’t seem afraid of me. The Norse looking fella spread out his arms, gesturing to the massive room around us. It was rather like a grin but with mats, as well as sizable supplies of various poles, and diagrams of various techniques. “Welcome to my Polearm Technique class, where we will learn the fundamentals of pole based combat!” I nodded along but was suddenly startled as he pointed right in my face.

 

“Uh…”

 

“Now my student what do you know about polearms?” The entire class were squinting their tiny eyes at me, and I took a deep breath. I shouldn’t be so nervous, they’re all just a bunch of kids. But still I guess I should show off a bit of what I know. I straightened my back and cleared my throat to speak.

 

“A Polearm is a close combat weapon in which the fighting weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft. Polearms can have a variety of different heads depending on the use of the weapon. Examples being spears, quarterstaffs, halberds, war scythes, poleaxes, and pikes. Polearms have a wider reach than weapons like swords, and are often more versatile as well.”

 

The class had imperceptibly moved an inch back, now I wouldn’t say they were impressed but who cares. Borr nodded with his hand on his chin and gestured for me to sit.

 

“Well informed, but how far will your knowledge carry you?” I shrugged, I would just go with the flow. I either figured it out or I didn’t and I suppose I would have to take a different path. But hopefully destiny would let me… 

 

“Now I believe it’s time to start the class.” He clasped his hands together and I removed my cloak, folding it into a neat little pile. We followed him out to the matted floor. Out of nowhere he pulled out a staff from  _ somewhere. _ It was enormous made proportionally to the six and a half foot tall man.

 

“Now for your first lesson. I will teach you the parts of a stuff for you beginners.” He grasped the staff and lifted one hand to the uppermost section of the staff. “This is the furthermost quarter, used for partying and striking.” He returned his hand to the lower area. “This is the quarter near the hand, used for binding and controlling the opponent's weapon.” I already knew this after reading some article somewhere.

 

He spoke about the two quarters between the hands used for parrying and shoving the opponent or staff around. There was also a bit that could be used to wrench an opponent's staff away from him. Some stuff about how you need to grip the staff Again I already knew a fair amount of this… but then knowledge is different from applying it in the real world.  His spiel didn’t end yet as we  _ finally _ started on how to use a staff. 

 

“Now  _ this  _ is one basic stance for Polearm users.” He was standing narrowly in a broad, low stance with his left foot leading, an the left knee hanging above. His right foot was angled to at about 90 degrees to the right. I followed the movement, and a slight wave followed as I unintentionally jolted the students into action. 

 

I tended to randomly practice stances just to test them out back when I had dance classes. This wasn’t any different from then. Borr looked on approvingly at our initiative. The other students didn’t have a bad time at it, able to pick up the stands rather quickly. But I’m sure there a lot of tiny imperfections that our teach would eventually correct. Teach went from student to student, tapping them with his Quarterstaff and making small corrections. With one student a short wolf faunus  pushing his knee back to meet evenly with his right foot.

 

When he came to me, he pushed my back to make me straighten up and angled my shoulder slightly to the right. He nodded and I held still, until I jogged my memory. I tried…with some mild difficulty to shift my balance between forwards, center, and backwards though I had a hard time of it. 

 

Borr started to demonstrate how to twist our hips in the right way and I incidentally learned about degrees and that weird clock thing. It didn’t take me more than a minute or two to figure it out.

 

Now twist the ball of my leading foot from 12 o’clock to 10 o’clock… and raise my rear foot. There’s really a lot of twisting motions in martial arts isn’t there? Fortunately despite being the same height as in my previous life, everything feels a little more proportional here. 

 

Stupid stubby legs…

 

Any who…afterward he taught us the various methods of footwork common to polearm combat. Though he did mention that aura users could make some changes, due to well… _ aura. _ Soul magic tends to make the usual strategies not work as well, or maybe even work better in some of them. 

 

Either way…for now at least this would be how we would learn until the time was right. He eventually taught us several of the needed stances and even a few simple strikes(without the practice staffs). 

 

It was a good day…too bad it was coming to a close. I felt a  _ little  _ sore, but nothing I wasn’t used to. Borr told us to stop, and I relaxed getting tired of just practicing. Physically I mean, and while isn’t the most exciting thing to be doing, getting into it right away is  _ not  _ a good idea. I would rather not get hurt or hurt someone else for stupid reasons.

 

“Class dismissed!”

 

I really need to pay attention to my surroundings more…

 

***

 

“Hey!” Taiyang rushed over just as I was leaving, stopping me in my tracks. I closed my notebook and placed it inside my backpack. He skidded across the concrete until he stopped just short of my face. One step back was all I needed and Tai gave me a small wave. 

 

I felt my lips raise into an easy smile, and I sat down on the grass for a moment. He followed suit, and I waited for him to say anything.

 

“Are you leaving?” I nodded and he looked mildly distraught. I didn’t know to feel about how quickly the kid patches onto me. But I don’t think I minded as long as I had  _ someone  _ to talk to.

 

“Hey we can still hang out when you get out of class in…about three hours?” He  _ beamed  _ and I jittered as he grabbed my hand shaking it up and down in excitement.

 

I left him with a goodbye and a smile on my face. I walked over to our home, because while we do live pretty far out from everyone else. Running at say 30 miles and hour makes that time feel much less.

 

I still ended up running for about 20 minutes out into the outer reaches of town, edging in on the great forest nearby. I let my gaze wander deep into the dark forest wondering if there were any Grimm hiding within its borders. What kind of tales did the people of Remnant fell to keep their children safe? I heard some rustling and took a dozen steps back. My stance lowered and I lifted up my hands, a ripple of aura surged and my barrier stabilized.

 

The rustling grew louder and closer, and my thoughts were on whether or not I should run. I know how these things go, you hear a scary sound panic and it turns out it was a random person. But being on Remnant what if I’m wrong? It could be the difference between life and death if I don’t flee.

 

“Oh sod it all!” I felt my breath leave me, as a dirty and messy Gilda emerged from the forest, pulling out stray leaves and branches. Her face was contorted into an expression of frustration and anger. I leaped in her direction, and smacked straight into her chest. I felt my face flush with anger and I ended up berating her for the next few minutes.

 

Seriously…who does that?! Is it necessary to make as much noise as possible?! 

 

My caretaker gave me an apologetic look, and picked me up carrying me in one arm. She opened the door with her other hand, and there was a brief golden shine of  _ something. _ My brows furrowed, now I needed to know what the hell her semblance was. I knew Glynda had a bullshit level of Telekinesis but her mother on the other hand…I hadn’t seen her semblance even once. Only flashes of gold and yellow over the last month or so.

 

I slid down from my perch and ran up to my room. I left my backpack on my bed, and sat down. It had been a rather interesting day today, I was learning what I would someday end up needing to defend myself. Class was simple for now, and I still had time to have a somewhat normal life…

 

But…it wouldn’t last forever. I had been thinking about what to do next for a long time. I’m not sure whether or not I should become a Huntress, but if I didn’t I think I would quickly become paranoid. As a Huntsmen I would become  _ much  _ stronger, able to defend myself from possible enemies. As a civilian I may or not not get even more attention on me. No matter what I did I wouldn’t just stand still. I wanted to become a scientist back home, and even now that hasn’t completely changed.

 

But…my ideas from home could bring unwanted protection from a number of unsavory groups. One of them being the Schnee Dust Company. From what I had read up, Weiss’s father had already become the head of the company and married she mother. I listened to the whispers and rumors of of their unfair business practices, their growing monopoly, and the various subsidiaries that outcompeted local companies. About the possible ties to more…unsavory business, the mysterious  _ accidents  _ that would lead to a company’s bankruptcy. Only to later be bought up by the largest corporation in the world.

 

If I made an  _ independent  _ group I’m not sure how long I would last, even if Ozpin could protect me. He doesn't exactly have the best track record on the whole…keeping his students alive. But admittedly that’s just the nature of being a Huntsmen anyway. You can only do so much to protect your pupils from an endless horde of evil monsters after all. Maybe if I worked  _ with  _ them, but I was still worried on what would end up happening if I did.

 

And as a civilian I would be easier to take out by people like Salem… Having magic eye powers is great and all, but it’s not very conducive to a long life.  But then again if I was some  _ random _ researcher maybe she wouldn’t find me…

 

I don’t think I have that kind of luck… the first moment I got here(woke up?) I found several dead bodies and almost got mauled to death by Beowolves. But it could be lucky to get saved by the Headmaster of Beacon and adopted by his future Deputy’s mom. Meeting a future teammate in another timeline… and getting to build a rocket.

 

But even that luck is no guarantee of my safety. I’ve been doing okay but soon enough some other disaster would almost kill me, or  _ actually  _ kill me. 

 

“Dammit…” I muttered under my breath as I smelled a delicious meal from downstairs. I rolled my shoulders, wincing at a low crack, as well as opening the door to my room. As I stepped out for lunch, I hoped that this peace would last much longer…

 

In the days that followed it didn’t take too long for my hopes to get shattered.

 

***

 

Deep in a house long since abandoned an ancient being of hatred and rage was searching for the  _ familiar  _ feeling of silver. It’s car sized paws carved through the soil as it sniffed around, its wolf like snout twitching as it picked up a strong scent. 

 

“ **AWOOOO!!!** ” It howled into the night sky, and hundreds of others followed suit. The wolf like Grimm breathed in the deep scent and its snout formed into a twisted inhuman grin. It’s legs sprung with raw power and it please dozens of feet in the air.

 

It had the scent of a Silver Eyes Warrior

  
  



	4. The Wedge of Heaven and the Wolf that swallowed the Sun

**Chapter Four: The Wedge of Heaven and the Wolf that swallowed the Sun**

 

“Come on Summer  _ stop. _ ” I grinned as I pulled Taiyang along to what I had deemed the Kerbal Space Shed. It had been several months now since we had struck up our initial friendship on my first day. He had been surprisingly attentive to our friendship, which was odd since he had a fair number of friends other than me. For whatever reason he didn’t want to introduce me…but if they were the same guys from before then fair enough. Any time that wasn’t spent with working on my abilities, alchemy, or amauter rocketry was spent with him. I could have hung out with the other uh… _ girls  _ but most of them don’t seem to like me very much. 

 

Except for Umber of course but she’s great…as for everyone else.

 

Well…sucks for them, I’m awesome! But anyway back to the Shed, my experiments had advanced a fair bit now. Longer runs, more accurate equipment, and more rocket chambers. I had also been working on making a lithium ion battery using alchemy. Which if this stuff didn’t work at atomic to even subatomic levels meant I would have had some issues.

 

I still needed to figure out what chemistry to use, there was Lithium Iron Phosphate, low energy density, but high cycle life and stability, or maybe one of the Nickel rich cathodes like NCA, NCM, or NCMA. Which were more than twice as energy dense but had moderate cycle life, and lower thermal stability. Fortunately Lithium is a pretty common material on Remnant, the main use of it was in various metal alloys and medical use as a treatment for bipolar disorder. Cobalt might be a bit of an issue too…but honestly if you know a Huntsman or Huntress you should be fine, those guys are pretty  _ loaded. _

 

Now let me open this door  _ and… _

 

“We’re here!” I waved my hands in the air introducing my friend to my new workshop. His eyes had widened, and I grinned at the sparkle of excitement in his eyes.

 

“What  _ is  _ this place?” He bounced from one foot to the other as he looked around the crowded shop. His awe increased when he saw the aluminum fuselage for my newer rocket. It had the same engine design but now there was an actual rocket to fly. It was almost done…and I only needed a few more adjustments before it was ready for flight. And in case of unplanned disassembly I had a bunch of extra rockets as a backup.

 

“Rocket lab…” I smirked as he gasped, and felt a sense of pride at what I had done here. He scanned the room with his eyes, his lips just slightly open. 

 

“So  _ cool… _ ” Yes I am cool my dear friend. Now listen to my voice, peasant…

 

I really need to get out more if I’m talking like this in my head now. Taiyang was suddenly distracted and he veered over to a desk open to the college courses I was taking. He looked a little flabbergasted as he tried to read my notes, and was unable to comprehend a single paragraph.

 

“Uh is this?”

 

I scoffed at his foolishness. “Elementary my dear Taiyang, only some easy Logarithms, nothing too complicated really.” My friend had the cutest expression of complete confusion on his face. He had not idea of what to make of my scribbles and writings.

 

“Um…okay are…these  _ college  _ level courses.”

 

“And…?” I quirked a brow, and he blushed, his ears turning red. The little guy was  _ really  _ easy to tease and I ultimately couldn’t help myself. His embarrassment shifted to an expression I knew  _ very  _ well and I narrowed my eyes at him.

 

“So  _ Xiao Long  _ do you think it will take you to finish them all.” 

 

“Oh hoho!” I rubbed my chin with a glint in my eye. “I would say about four or five  _ Summers. _ ” I waggled my eyebrows up and down for further emphasis. “Doing them online will help me avoid the  _ Rose  _ and  _ Rose  _ of older college students in the future.”

 

I waggled them a second time…

 

“How  _ adorable. _ ” I puffed out my cheeks as Gilda came out of nowhere. I hadn’t even noticed her show up. The door to the shed was wide open… and my scowl turned to a frown as I noticed some injuries on her face. She was dripping some blood on the floor but otherwise she didn’t  _ look  _ like she was critically injured. She smiled weakly at my concern and waved me off saying that a smarter than average Grimm had caught her off guard. But that didn’t really make me feel any better at all…

 

I found some bandages, and remembering some tips I washed my hands, and pressed a clean cloth to the lacerations for a couple of minutes. I didn’t understand why she wasn’t using her aura and that made me rather nervous. Even if injuries didn’t necessarily heal instantly, I should still see some signs of it. Approaching her face revealed that she looked  _ exhausted,  _ more than I had ever seen her before. I noticed a set of golden armor with a tattered red cape, long since dirtied by dirt, ash, and grimm goop. There was also noticeable cracks and lacerations as if something  _ enormous  _ had attacked it. She covered her eyes on her own, and I pulled her to a sink to wash the injury. I removed the fairly decent amount of dirt particles, I didn’t want her to get infected.

 

“Hey Tai can you get the antiseptic for M— _ her. _ ” He nodded and I ignored Gilda’s hurt look. He passed it and applied it to the thankfully small cuts, her aura had likely reduced the severity of  _ whatever  _ happened to her. She took it like a ch—well like a Huntsmen and didn’t let even a hint of a hiss of pain leave her lips.

 

“What happened?” I asked her and she flinched at the question. I pouted and waited for her to answer, and even crossed my arms. She hesitated and she slumped as she failed to not tell me.

 

“I…encountered a  _ very  _ powerful Grimm…it managed to break my aura near the very.” I felt an odd  _ grey  _ feeling surge up and I had to keep myself from gripping her face. I focused on the task at hand, and finally wrapped the bandage around, and started to clean up. I was silent and decided to test something, I placed my hands on Gilda’s toned stomach and  _ pulsed. _ My frown deepened when I noticed just how damaged she was…her face was fine, but her ribs were cracked, and there were pulled muscles all over the place. 

 

“I’m calling Glynda.” Like magic, my “sister” appeared and with a wave of her weapon(still a crop by the way) froze Gilda. She gently maneuvered her with her semblance and told me to take charge while she took o-her mother to the hospital.

 

…

 

…

 

“Well…that happened.” Tai could only nod, and I gestured him forward with my index finger. He did so, and the both of sat down on the chairs facing the fuselage. Two custom aluminum(alchemy made) tanks held the fuel and oxidizer. Most of the piping was in…and in fact the engine was in too. The only step left really was to place it on the vertical test stand.

 

“So…you want to know what this does?” I asked him cheekily. He added quite a bit of force behind his nod, and I decided to oblige.

 

“Well my friend…this is the Falcon 0.5 Kerosene and LOX powered cloud cutter rocket! With its non Dust powered engine it will rise into the sky higher than anything made by an 11 year old has ever gone!” My excitement got the better of me for a moment and I flashed Tai a brief smile.

 

“Woah…cool!” He tried to touch my precious rocket with his grubby hands and I water him.

 

“No! No touching not until…” I paused for effect, and he rubbed his hand in pain.

 

“Until…?”

 

“I have chosen you!” I have no idea what I’m being so dramatic for, it’s rather uncharacteristic. “To be my assistant! Will you help me in this endeavor?”

 

“Uh sure… why are you being so weird?” I shrugged not having the faintest idea why I was acting like a maniac. Maybe it was to feel better after seeing my sole caretaker in such a poor state? 

 

“You know we’re best friends right? You can tell me whatever is on you mind?” My muscles tensed at Taiyangs statement, and I bit my lip as I glanced away.

 

I could trust him with this secret right? He’s  _ Taiyang _ he isn’t going to tell anyone about whatever I tell him.

 

“Uh I want to tell you a secret.” 

 

Taiyang looked surprised but nodded anyway.

 

***

 

I scratched the back of my head, waiting for a speechless Taiyang to say anything. I worried that maybe I had broke him, and a part of me worried he would tell other people. As to why I told him? Well if he’s going to be a future teammate I would have to tell him the truth eventually correct?

 

Stop making excuses…own up to  _ why  _ you did it. Taiyang was still holding the metal bird I had transmuted from a high iron content rock I had found. I patted his shoulder and sighed in relief when his expression shifted into excitement like he usually did.

 

“Can you teach me!?” That would be the  _ worst  _ possible outcome if I did. It’s easy to play off my alchemy as part of a powerful semblance, a little more difficult when it's two people. 

 

But…teaching someone Alchemy sounds like it would be fun, and despite what you would think Tai isn’t a snitch. So I suppose I could teach him some of what I know. But honestly I had already been teaching him the basics without him even knowing it.

 

“But you already know the basics of alchemy…” His eyes bugged out in realization and he asked me if I could demonstrate some more. I had recently made a highly specific circle for making delicious cookies…which…made taken some time. Technically with the arrays I had on my hand I could pretty much create any alchemical reaction. I just need to have a great deal of control with my mind, even with a basic general purpose array. But it had nowhere near that level to control yet, which was as when I figured out why those arrays were on the glove even though I could barely use them.

 

While I could use them on my own, since it isn’t as specific there’s less control over the reaction.  _ But _ I could use the array and my memory to change the pattern on the palm of the glove and make the more specific arrays. Like right at this instant I had a downright  _ powerful  _ elemental control array. On my left I could manipulate water and air to manipulate the weather. With the right I could control earth like what Ed would do, or make weapons. And when the arrays overlapped…I got fire manipulation on top of it.

 

As for the cookie array it had taken me some time to formulate the array…it was simpler to use than the  _ peculiar  _ plant to bread array contained within the more advanced Alchemy books. I even found an array for a goddamn  _ hard drive  _ array. Frankly I doubt I would be able to do that for quite a while… 

 

I began placing the various ingredients within a triangle, ¾ cups of granulated sugar, ¾ packed brown sugar, ½ cup salted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. 1 teaspoon of table salt, and 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I didn’t have any need for baking sodas since I had that covered with the circle.

 

“That triangle? Represents heat right?” I gave him a thumbs up, this was really more a mixing, rising, heating array. Basically all it did was act like an alchemy based oven, if cooking much faster. And what do you know a couple of minutes(?) later and I had a batch of 40 chocolate chip cookies. I gave one a taste test and smacked my lips appreciatively, as it met my seal of approval. Tai didn’t take one, instead he looked at me with a question in his eyes.

 

“I’ve noticed in some of the books you’ve brought that there’s a bunch of different arrays that do the  _ exact  _ same thing but look different, why is that?” I chose down on a few more cookies before deciding to answer him. I watered the food down with a cup of milk and once it was done cleared my throat so I could reply.

 

“Well the thing is…that the symbols don't actually matter too much, outside of the circle itself. The symbols are just there to  _ represent  _ a part of the alchemy. What those symbols mean are going to vary based on culture quite often. It’s the alchemist that gives meaning and power to that symbol.”

 

“That’s still cool. Uh mind if I give it a shot?” I nodded and he drew the same basic array I had used over four months ago. He placed his own pebble there, from what I could sense it was a silicate material and I nodded as he pressed his hands near the circle. A flash of light followed, and within a minute a small lumpy stone tiger had come to life. Not literally of course…

 

Not yet anyway…

 

“I think I’m going to have a fun time teaching you the ways of alchemy.”

 

A lot of fun indeed…

 

***

 

But not so much fun with martial arts…

 

“God Dammit why am I so bad at this?!” I shrieked as I took a pole to the face, my aura flashing with the impact. Umber let out an apology and pulled me up from our mat. Turns out I was right about theory not translating as well you would hope in the real world. Now I wasn’t  _ terrible  _ but I wasn’t very good either, at my current level I would say I slightly above average. Which was still better than about half of the class.

 

The fucking cherry on top though was the fact that with my semblance, the whole detecting imperfections applies to people too. I can notice just where I need to hit, to bring them down. But one, it’s an obvious mistake to rely on it all the time, and two you need the reaction time to actually use that information. 

 

I felt a sigh coming on by suppressed it…there was no time to mope while we were still in class.

 

“Good spar…but I know you can make some improvements Summer.” I nodded wearily, rolling my wrists and trying to keep my temper under check. I suspected that if went to Beacon I would need to compensate my weakness with my semblance as well as my Alchemy, now that there was an effective difference really.

 

It didn’t help that Gilda was routinely coming back tired as hell and even some minor scratches. She wasn’t willing to tell me anything not wanting to worry me. So in the end I asked Ozpin and he told me the truth.

 

There’s a good chance a massive Grimm attack is coming… 

 

Right after they rescued me there was a an abnormal surge in Grimm activity, with dozens of villages attacked and a couple were even destroyed. But apparently something Ozpin had found from a recent set of files discovered and decoded disturbed him an he told me he  _ knew _ what I was.

 

Which…wasn’t really a surprise so  _ whatever… _

 

There’s been a sizable amount of change recently and I’ve heard some rumblings about evacuations, as well as the discrete missions sent out to some Huntsmen to Mountain Glenn. I…I’m an idiot, I could have  _ said  _ something about what was going to happen. I heard all the news about that mountain as well as the posters advertising for families to move in and I still…

 

It was good that he got just enough warning to reduce the casualties from thousand to only hundreds. But I don’t doubt it wouldn't take too long to match that death toll with the sheer number of attacks on towns and villages. It only gets worse…the Grimm that almost killed Gilda is  _ still  _ alive and she didn’t tell me that so I wouldn’t panic. Which fair enough wasn’t entirely wrong.

 

“H-Hello?” I blinked ending my internal rant as Umber snapped her fingers in front of my face. She had her face set in a hard line, and I apologized quietly. “It’s okay, I understand you get distracted but…if it wasn’t for that habit of overthinking you probably could have beaten me.” I think I got what she was saying. “It’s good to think about what your opponent might do, but you take too much time and that isn’t good.” 

 

She’s…right I always try to plan out an elaborate and unnecessary strategy to beat her…pretending to be some tactical genius. If I was a faster thinker maybe it could work, but as I am it doesn't.

 

“Thanks for the help.” No reason not to be grateful to her for the assistance. Umber turned scarlet and mumbled cutely and I gave her an easy grin.

 

I sat down on a bench, and hungrily downed some water from bottles kindly placed for our benefit. This was one of my better days, this time I had actually come close to beating Umber, and she was the best Polearm user in the entire class. But there was hint of slowness in her step that made me guess that she was intentionally holding back.

 

The art of martial arts is complicated for the uninitiated…though even with superpowers things didn’t tend to change too much. Certain tactics will stay the same, on Remnant there are just…extra ones. In my case the issue with fighting Umber is that she always strikes first to catch me off guard and it works too well with my current slow methodical style.

 

I’ve been fumbling with the fundamentals of fighting…most of it had had been with spacing and reading. I have a hard time at reading what an opponent is going to do, and my overthinking again gives people time to thrust a pole into my stomach.  But I’m getting better, and Umber is a good test du— _ sparring  _ partner for me. I’ve begun to noticed the little habits she’s developed over time. The main thing I’ve noticed is that her bunny ears twitch just the slightest before a low hit.

I’m going to take advantage of that the next time we fight. As to anyone who doesn't know what I’m talking about (I know someone out there is listening…). There are at least four fundamentals of combat starting with spacing, which is basically what it says on the tin. The ability to keep myself at a range where I can execute attacks or recover, but my opponent can’t. 

 

Now in the case of Umber and I that doesn't work quite as well since our reach is similar(but not identical). Then there’s Reading which is well predicting what your opponent may do by picking up on their habits or patterns. It’s almost a breeze with Analysis but someday I might go up against someone too fast for me, or where I can’t use my semblance.

 

“You’re getting faster.” I nodded uneasily as Umber brushed up next to me, her upper ears twitching as if listening to a low sound. “And you aren’t telegraphing as much as before. Getting harder to predict, in no time I…uh think you’ll get more even with me.” 

 

I really hoped so…

 

“Hah good spar out there! You have both improved considerably over the past few months.” Umber squeaked while I let loose a high pitched yelp as Borr snuck up behind us despite his advanced age and tall stature. I felt the slap of his hand on my shoulder, and held back a sigh of annoyance. 

 

The damn bastard had the tendency to sneak up behind you in the most inconvenient moments possible. Frankly I wouldn’t doubt he did it on purpose just to mess with people. I can’t blame him either, if I could do that I would just  _ love  _ to freak people out.

 

“Of course teacher.” I dryly replied to him, while picking up my practice weapon from the floor. I frowned as I sensed some microscopic amounts of damage, but ignored it for now. I placed it back on the weapon stand, and our teacher dismissed us.

 

“Please keep practicing and you  _ will  _ improve!” He hollered loudly, and groaned as several students laughed mockingly.

 

Most of the school, at least those around my age seemed unwilling to go near me, or if they did appeared to just plain dislike me. Something about me appeared to frighten the students, and it was only recently when I figured out why. Apparently some jackass had spread a stupid rumor, blaming me for the Grimm attacks. I have no damn clue how any of that would make any fucking sense but…kids aren’t always the brightest people.

 

Whatever…

 

Anyways…I kept walking, and decided to move along.

 

I don’t want it bore you too much with the details of History, well no I kind of do. I had some random female cat faunus as our teacher. He had taught us some basics on the history of early Remnant peoples.

 

Humanity started off as hunter-gatherers just like we did, with the sole exception of being constantly harassed by the creatures of Grimm. An unending horde daring to swallow humanity into the darkness. For centuries mankind fled back and forth from every known corner of the Earth, almost nowhere was safe, without Dust the only place humanity could flee to was the cold continent where the nation of Mantle and its successor state of Atlas would one day arise. But crossing an ocean of monsters was a near impossible task, leaving mankind to wither away.

 

There are only a few artefacts from this time period, broken spears, axes, and pottery all that is of left of the people of that time. Modern humanity called that period of unknown length the Age of Grimm. Where the beasts of hatred and bloodlust ruled as the single most powerful and populous species on the planet. That terrible and tumultuous times end was marked by the first known use of Dust, a 2181 year old spearhead with a chunk of rough shaped Fire Dust embedded into the center.

 

Soon after, the era of Man began, pushing back the darkness. But no matter what the darkness was always watching, waiting for humanity to make just one mistake. To make our species fall into the hall of extinction like so many other species before us.

 

There were still many mysteries behind the dark age. Mainly, how did primitive humans and faunus survive with only aura and weak stone and early bronze weapons to protect them from the prowlers of the night. The only clue behind their survival was the story of the Silvers Eyes Warrior and the fairytale of the Four Maidens, an ancient oral story placed down onto writing 1700 years ago.

 

Other than that…nothing at all could be revealed, the ancient ruins and their secrets protected by the creatures that destroyed them.

 

“Hey sister.” I perked up as Glynda jogged up behind me, before slowing down and walking in step with me. I gave her a little wave, and smiled glad to see her face.

 

“Hello~” I replied to her with a slight sing-song voice feeling in a good mood for the day. Despite being barely above average I  _ was  _ still improving, and hoped that mom–err… Gilda’s Aura Awareness lesson today would be good. I had largely figured out how to keep my aura up when I needed it, though it wasn’t as efficient as an actual Huntsmen. Apparently through training you could up your amount of aura, as well as make it better able to deflect blows, reducing the amount of aura lost per attack. “So whatcha here for?”

 

“What? Can’t a sister just surprise her younger sister?” Glynda had a small smirk on her face, that told me she was lying. I walked past the house into the clearing used as our training ground. There in a set of  _ shining  _ armor no longer tainted and smeared by battle, stood Gilda.

 

I had never gotten a close look at the armor that Gilda wore. It certainly fit the meaning of her name to a tee. It was also terrifyingly familiar having seen that kind of armor only once before.

 

She was wearing the armor of King Gilgamesh… and what that meant told me a lot of what her semblance could be. It also made me worry about just how tough the Grimm that attacked her really was, if it managed to hurt her and still get away.

 

I relaxed as she clapped her armored hands together, a resounding  _ boom  _ beginning the class session. I took a seat on the mat, criss cross applesauce and all. Gilda remained standing, with her eyes flashing red and gold for a brief second. Apparently before having aura and combat training I was shitty at noticing the obvious, which makes sense I’ve always had an issue with tunnel vision.

 

“Now since I’ve already got you well on your way to using your aura well, now I’ll teach you some of the more advanced techniques. Including a few other movement techniques and some special attack techniques.” I perked up at Gilda’s last words, since those were ultimately the most difficult non semblance related aura abilities. Other than the various Dust casting attacks some aura users can do of course.

 

Basically while channeling aura into your body is fairly simple once you get the hang of it, the world around you still runs on  _ most  _ of the laws of physics. If I tried to run at say 50 plus meters per second, I would either end up tripping or breaking the concrete with the force, whichever comes first. That would make it mighty inconvenient to fight Grimm and rogue Huntsmen.

 

So today we were focusing on channeling our aura into the  _ ground  _ instead of just our bodies. Our light is able to manipulate the molecular properties of an object temporarily.  Making a soft object rigid, or a strong object flexible, or even change the a surface become smooth or not smooth. Of course they can’t hold this forever, only sustaining it for as long as they need to.

 

So to run fast on a normal surface, you need to increase the friction between your foot and the ground to prevent slipping. I’ve actually figured this out a while back, though I’m only good with wooden floors and roads, but I’m getting better with the other kinds, like say a grassy field, or the cliff side of a mountain.

 

But now we were working on skating and hopping. The first involved increased friction on the front of the foot, and decreasing friction on the back of the foot. It’s basically what Weiss uses to move the way that she does. Hopping is what anyone uses when they leave a hundred feet into the air by reinforcing the ground and then leaping upwards.

 

I stood up and I let out breath as I focused a fraction of my aura downward. I was moved down to a smooth flat terrain of grass and smirked. But with one step…

 

“Oh shi—zzle!” I lose control and fell flat on my face.

 

So…I wasn’t having the easiest time at it, but I  _ was  _ getting better. I was never very good at skating, but using it here was an efficient way to use my aura and potentially faster. If limited to only certain kinds of terrain, mostly empty and flat areas, like sand dunes, and snowy areas.

 

I’ve got the  _ hopping _ down, having practice in private but…well I left a few craters here and there. Also got myself buried in the ground for a half hour until Glynda dug me out. Which was stupid since I had my hands free and could have used alchemy.

 

She made fun of me for an entire week after that…

 

“No distractions!” I rubbed my reddening forehead glaring at Gilda after she swatted me. “If you can't focus on this task then we can move on to attack techniques.”

 

Ah, special attack techniques… 

 

As to what they are, they are  _ special  _ uses of aura where a Huntsmen will direct aura outward in a violent force. Like how Red used his punches to blow up a Grimms head, or the various sword beams and wind slashes that show up. Basically all those weird shock wave attacks are just applications of sure instead of breaking the sound barrier or moving the wind with pure force.

 

Now that they  _ can’t  _ break the sound barrier with pure speed, but that’s entering the upper echelons of Huntsmen who top out in the upper transonic range.

 

Now breathe in, breathe out…it’s time to… _ focus. _

 

I felt some of my aura concentrate into my hand, coiling and boiling up as the instability increased. I did my best to contain the power, gritting my teeth together as my hand twitches.

 

“Now hit  _ this. _ ” Gilda placed down a meter tall wooden log in front of me, and I lifted up my hand. I glanced down at the heavy object and with a roar threw the aura out violently.

 

_ BOOM!! _

 

The log exploded into dozens of sharp pieces of wood and bark, the air vibrating and oscillating as the aura passed through it.

 

“Hah! I did it!!” I  _ leaped  _ into the air, reaching 3 meters up before coming back down. I ended up flattening the grass under my feet, but it was worth it.

 

“Not bad, it didn’t go this well for me when  _ I  _ started out.” I grinned as Glynda patted me on the back. She had a similar smile on her face, and gave me a light bump with her hip. “At the right you’re going, it won’t be long before mom decides to set up a Grimm hunt or two.” My smile shrunk for a moment, but despite that I nodded regardless. I think…it was controlled I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

 

Grimm…were terrifying and I had done my best to forget that day. The smell, the growls and howls, the sound of their claws raking against the log…

 

“You excited too?” Glynda pressed her right index finger against my forehead, tapping it three times before retracting it. My face split into a small smile, and I closed my eyes deciding to try again.

 

_ BOOM! _

 

_ BOOM! _

 

Okay what if I…?

 

_ WHOOSH!! _

 

A cutting wind was thrust out from my hand, with my two family… members nodding approvingly. I tried it a few more times but stopped as my aura started dropping. I curled my fingers together once I had finished with practice. So the attacks are powerful but can use a  _ lot  _ of aura when you’re still inexperienced. Very interesting, they could put to good use in later fights.

 

“I think now is a good time to stop the lesson. What do you two think?” Gilda sounded confident about, and I nodded absently. Her expression shifted to a curious one, looking like she wanted to know something. “Now…”

 

“You said you were working on a new project in the workshop?” I already knew what she wanted from me.

 

“You want me to show you what I was working on?”

 

“Yes,  _ please. _ ”

 

Heh, well it should be rather….  _ electrifying. _

 

***

 

“So this is?” Glynda gestured to four metallic rails placed on a non conductive table. One had large supercapacitors to power it, while the other had two small smooth balls of Blitz(Lightning) Dust for power. Both were tests for differing power sources for a  _ certain  _ type of gun I had always been enamored with.

 

“Railgun…” I almost felt shivers as I ran my fingers along the smoothly machined Covetic Copper rails. Glynda responded with an eyebrow raise, though she did lean closer.

 

“And?” She wrapped her arms around her still armored chest, since she hadn’t bothered to change out of it.

 

“Oh,” a nearly maniacal grin split my face. “It’s an electromagnetically propelled gun instead of being propelled directly by Dust. With a  _ pulse  _ of electrical input the two rails will generate a powerful magnetic field accelerating the conductive armature to over five times the speed of sound.” I flinched back as the Huntress rushed over, placing her own delicate hands on the prototype.

 

It ran on a moderately  _ expensive  _ high purity Lightning Dust crystal battery with a  _ gigantic  _ amount of energy density. Well above the energy density of metallic hydrogen, but far short of nuclear reactions.

 

“That’s amazing! How far along are you?” I answered her by turning on a screen, showcasing a video of a previous tests. The screen popped up, and I sat on the wooden chair, getting comfy.

 

In the video the two railguns brimmed with energy and a small sonic  _ boom _ rang out as a five gram aluminum projectile hit about 800 meters per second. Both prototypes reached this energy, though the ultracapacitor had already reached its limit.

 

“That isn’t quite what I expected…” she sounded disappointed but I shook my head, and pulled lightly on her hair. 

 

“It’s not ready yet, there are still improvements that must be made on the material of the rails, I need to draw more energy from the Dust crystal too. For the prototypes I hope to hit a muzzle velocity of 2000 meters per second in about a month.” Her face lit up, and I swear she licked her lips in excitement. I felt an uncomfortable shiver and ignored the  _ look  _ on her face. I really hoped I didn’t make those same kinds of faces, when I got excited about science and technology.

 

“Now it should…” I trailed off as a wave of raw  _ terror  _ blasted against my body and mind. Gilda’s aura exploded outwards and a growl escaped her lips. Glynda trembled and her telekinesis rippled the air.

 

“ **AAWWOOOWWW!!** ” A vicious howl shook the entire house; and my hairs stood on end, as  _ hundreds  _ of growls and roars responded back. I yelped as Gilda threw me into Glynda’s arms.

 

“Take Summer! Get out of here and RUN! Evacuate any civilians you can!” The  world  _ blurred  _ around me as little good witch leaped through an open window taking me with her.

 

I could hear screaming and taste the signature iron of blood in the air. I flinched as massive feathers rushed toward us, faster than most of us could move.

 

_ PING!! _

 

The makeshift projectile weapons shattered uselessly gainst Glynda’s glyph, having retrieved her weapon. 

 

The air was filled with hazards as dozens of (thank god) young Nevermores, most now bigger than a mid size SUV. My sister… reacted with several tons of broke metal, knocking the bird right out of the sky. A resounding boom signalled its quick demise. 

 

“AWOO—URR!!” Dozens of beowolves were cut off as the sound of steel  _ whooshed _ through the air. A golden light the only tell of  _ something  _ happening.

 

“I’m going to put you down okay? I can’t fight as well while carrying you at the same time. If you need a weapon you can use your ‘semblance” Glynda gave me wink, trying to reassure me by being a dork.

 

It’s a good thing I always wear gloves, should probably get some array tattoos as a backup… 

 

I pressed my hands together, and the ground underneath my right arm was drawn out by a powerful force. The rock and concrete reformed as I dragged the steel rebar underneath. I would probably pay for damaging the road from our home to town but…I like living more. After a few seconds, a single carbon steel spear was dropped in my hand. My aura took to it like a fish to water, reinforcing the weapon. 

 

We started to run away from the house and to the now well known evacuation point, but we were blocked…

 

Three beowolves and one Ursa greedily growled, their claws twitching as they had us surrounded. I assessed the situation as my mind went into overdrive. Instead of wasting energy on my semblance I could use alchemy… Blue energy surged into the ground and two beowolves yelped as the earth itself turned against them. One was impaled as metallic spike popped up under its body. The other was knocked away by a stone hand, into the third wolf.

 

Glynda used their distraction against them, and a wave of debris shattered their spines. I felt a surge of killing intent and twisted my spear, and with a flick of my wrist stabbed through another wolf's jaw. I felt shock and surprise as my aura, surged into the Grimm, and its head exploded into bits.

 

“ **AWOOO!!** ” I let out a shaky breath at the unnaturally loud howl shaking the sky with its power. It sounds like a Beowolf…but no mere cannon fodder Grimm would ever sound like this.

 

My left hand array glowed as I drew the water and air around me and flash froze another wolf, then I superheated it and…

 

_ BOOM! _

 

The Grimm exploded like a super sized pressure cooker, leaving only dust and noxious gas in its wake. As we approached the evacuation point, the number of  Grimm continued to grow, which wasn’t a good sign for us.

 

“HIYA!” I perked up as a familiar boyish voice broke through the cacophony of sounds. From a wrecked building a golden haired blur emerged, side stepping a blow from a larger than average Ursa, around 12 feet tall and  _ very  _ angry. I gasped as Taiyang rushed in close, grabbing the throat of the Ursa with his bare hands and slammed the Grimm into the ground with gleeful prejudice. While the bear was down her leaped over and onto the giant monsters neck, and with a  _ twist  _ snapped its neck. The Grimm disappeared in a blast of dark gas and particles, and after a scan of the area around us I walked over to him.

 

“H-Hey.” My voice was unsteady, still not used to using my aura for long periods of combat. Tai was doing better, but I could sense his heartbeat rising to absurd levels. The golden boy turned to me, his eyes lighting up in recognition as he slammed the back of his fist against a beowolf cracking its bony faceplate. I decided to help and focused on the elements in the air.

 

“One, two, three…” Snap…

 

_ SHOOM!! _

 

A directed blast of fire seared the screaming wolf’s head off, its arms and legs wildly waving in the air. I heard ribs  _ shattering  _ as Tai gave it a good kick, the monster heaving in pain. The creature crumpled to the ground, dead and dissolving into monstrous ashes.

 

“Thanks for the help Summs!” I gave him a polite wave with the spear, before gripping it tightly as more roars echoed.

 

It was a good thing that for all their terrifying appearance and malicious nature. That Grimm were essentially a bunch of brain dead morons with no sense of self preservation or else we would be quite dead. The elder ones were dangerous  _ just  _ for that fact alone, and even if they’re borderline mentally regressive. But just because their stupid, it doesn't mean you should let your guard down.

 

The Grimm sent humanity to the brink for a reason…

 

“Someone please…h-help me…” I flinched as a weak and raspy voice called out for help. I tilted my head to better hear where the sound was coming from, Glynda’s eye widened for some reason and she tried to pull me away as I slowly walked up to a pile of rubble. I poked the broken artificial road and house materials with my spear. Taiyang came in to help, but maintained a healthy view of the perimeter.

 

Glynda hesitantly and gently lifted off a large concrete slab and I froze at the horrific sight underneath. Even Glynda’s cool and stoic eyes widened in horror, while Taiyang had turned green.

 

There was… a faunus I think that looked  _ oddly  _ familiar. A set of chocolate brown bunny ears, that lay broken and motionless. He himself wasn’t in the best of shape, coughing out blood and bile.

 

His left arm was twisted in a clearly unnatural position, and I could see white bone exposed. His right eye was closed shut and even if he somehow managed to survive, would be left blind.  It when I glanced at his chest…

 

A massive slash from Grimm claws had ripped open his stomach…I didn’t even now he could still be alive. He had apparently pressed a clothed boulder onto the unfixable wound, keeping his life fluids from leaking out completely.

 

For a second I swore I saw a rib poking out…even the idea of it made me want to throw up. He gestured with a twitch of his right arm to come closer and I did with a sense of dread and horror. It only grew when I saw his eyes…

 

They were the exact same shade as Umber’s…

 

“W-What is it?” I was quivering and my voice had become unsteady, my eyes scanning his damaged face. He lifted up a bloodied photo, and I gingerly took it into my shaking left hand.

 

In the small family picture stood him, a pretty brown eyed rabbit faunus and Umber.

 

Oh god… _ where  _ is she?

 

“I…need you to…,” A sickly cough wracked his body and a splatter of blood fell onto the floor. “Find her I beg of you! Her—my wife managed to get to the evacuation zone…but we lost sight of when the  _ big  _ one came.” My grip on my makeshift spear tightened and I nodded before he could say anything else. He laughed with glee and relief and reached for me. I took his remaining hand and he shook it with all his remaining strength.

 

“Thank the gods… please from the bottom of my soul thank you… t-thank you……” His strong grip vanished and his hand flopped to the ground with little fanfare. The man's eyes had closed and his skin had turned deathly pale as his life finally left him.

 

I watched a man die…

 

I…watched him die…

 

I didn’t do anything…I  _ couldn’t  _ help him at all…

 

I WATCHED A MAN DIE!

 

I watched as my second friend’s dad bled out…and DID NOTHING!!

 

I…

 

I-I…

 

“SUMMER SNAP OUT OF IT!!” 

 

Glynda was actively shaking me and I pushed her away in response. I lost my lunch on the ground, the image just too much to handle for me. I felt shivers turn up and down my spine, a deep cold numbing my senses. I didn’t protest as Glynda pulled me into a hug, whispering gentle words and brushing away the tears…

 

Tears? What is… I used my unoccupied right hand to grab at my face, noticing with a frown that water had escaped from my eye and down to the bloody ground.

 

That was when it hit…remembering what  _ he  _ had told me.

 

“UMBER! I HAVE TO FIND HER!!” I gripped the steel pole with both of my hands but just as I leaped an invisible force stopped me. I felt a rage surge up as an angry Glynda placed me into stasis.

 

“Glynda…” I gave her a growl and the teenage girl shook her head. My fingers were twitching urging me to activate the arrays on my hands. But I stopped myself, trying to calm my heart and slow my breath. My body relaxed and I lay perfectly still.

 

“I-I…promised…” Her expression softened at my distress and she sighed, placing me firmly on my feet. 

 

“I never said I wouldn’t help…” I felt some hope rise as she spoke. “But if you leave our side you could  _ die. _ ” I nodded forlornly knowing she was right, and that I was being an idiot for no reason.

 

“So…can we?” She gave me a serious nod, and her expression became steely. Taiyang lifted up his fists giving me a confident(clearly forced) smile. 

 

We started to move, searching for any sign of Umber. Regardless we stayed within six paces of the other, not willing to risk getting separated. No Grimm came to harass, and I felt anxiety and an odd  _ paranoia,  _ like something was watching us. I decided to  _ reinforce _ my senses, smirking once the light breathy sigh became more familiar.

 

“Umber?” A brown blur crossed the distance in an instant and I felt for the first time the full force of a glomp. The little bunny was shaking like a leaf,but before I could comfort her in some way she let go. I only saw a frighteningly blank expression, though my confusion was tempered as  _ loud  _ footsteps shook the town. I turn to face Glynda as I heard her choke…her eyes had widened in terror as she looked  _ up  _ at something.

 

A large shadow blocked out the sun and I took a sizable step back, as from behind a burning house a massive hand crushed the remaining roof with its weight. The hand was the length of a small sedan, around 15  _ feet  _ in length. There were sizable scars and old healed bullet sounds adorning the paw. The claws themselves were several feet long and nearly a foot thick and as they curled inward stabbed deep in the former home.

 

I look up and if anyone could have seen my face, they would have known how pale I was. It looked like a beowolf…but it wasn’t…too big, too well armored. The massive monster drooled, dropping black tipped saliva that smelled  _ horrid.  _ The stench of blood and death clung to the beast. That…thing looked very much like an alpha if an alpha was the size of a  _ damn  _ building. It opened its mouth…

 

“ **AAWWOOOOOO!!!** ” I felt shivers again as it’s call shook the town. It snarled as it grabbed ahold of a car and with a flick of its wrists flung the car blocking a two meter long golden sword.

 

The four of us took a step back as it’s tail tore the ground away with raw force. I heard the click of heels as a feminine figure approached from the dust and ash of our burning town. In that moment of distraction we hid from sight, it wasn’t a good idea to get close to an elder Grimm and trained Huntsmen.

 

My danger senses were ticking off like crazy, and the entire town was quiet now. I couldn’t hear any sound other than the crackling of fire. I kept my hand on my spear, but there was no presence that indicated any Grimm other than that  _ monster  _ in front of us. Strangely enough it stood perfectly still as Gilda approached, her advance implacable. It’s claws curled inward once again and it straightened its back, appearing almost human before its eyes flashed with the alien hatred it had for humanity.

 

“Well then…” There was only coldness and contempt in Gilda’s voice, no sign of the kind(if a little crazy) women who had willingly taken me in. That tone…

 

Her eyes shifted to red…

 

_ SHOOM!! _

 

From up above her dozens of portals, resembling shining liquid gold were summoned and I could see the small amused smirk on her face. The Grimm was unflinching and shoved its hand into the ground, throwing up several tons of dirt in an artificial avalanche. Gilda sighed and with a wave of her hand multiple shields flew out of the portals. The elder tilted its head, looking intrigued at the development as if it had never seen such a thing before.

 

“Heh,” a small chuckle escaped Gilda’s throat and she continued to step into the Grimm’s space. “I suppose you wouldn’t know what this is,” Gilda gestured to her portals. “You attacked me when I was  _ exhausted… _ very smart to attack me when I was down, but it also means you don’t know what I’m fully capable of…”

 

A flash of metal on metal followed and I watched with disbelief as a gigantic pike the length of a large bus clattered harmlessly to the ground. In the Grimms hand lay another nearly identical weapon, with the difference of it being a halberd of similar length and mass. The axe head was multiple feet long, and the massive Grimm held it more like a battle axe. It lowered into a combat stance, gripping the weapon with its right and curled its fingers while holding its left palm up to the sky.

 

“Did y-you not see it?” Umber was quiet and I shook my head at the question. She decided to enlighten me on the answer. “In that brief moment, the G-Grimm caught the first weapon and used it to parry the second and third weapon away.” I glanced down to the shattered half of a spear that had rolled over to us in the attack.

 

My god…

 

“Holy shit…” Glynda eyes were as wide as dinner plates, at the show of unusual strength and intelligence. I decided it was best to  _ move,  _ dragging everyone away from the gigantic demon. A flash of light alerted me and a glance back let me see dozens of more portals pop up. Dozens of sharp, well maintained weapons hungered for Grimm blood. At least that was how it felt…to me. 

 

All kinds of weapons…

 

Spears and halberds…

 

Poleaxes and lances… Shields, bows, and various swords. A frightening display of the gulf between us and Gilda’s skill and power as a fully fledged Huntress. I froze as Gilda shined in a bright gold, as her weapons inched forward. Her equally golden weapons lit up the darkening sky as night approached.

 

“You dare to encroach on the town under  _ my  _ protection. You must long for a painful death monster.” The beast of Grimm snarled and it gestured with its palm as if saying “get to the point.”

 

“I suppose it is time to put you down like the mad dog that you are! There will be nothing left of you, you  _ disgusting  _ mongrel.” Gilda sneered and with a wave of her hands, a storm of iron and gold shot out. The wolf braced itself, and  _ blurred  _ shattered the ground below it as it rushed with pike in hand.

  
  


_ BOOOM!! _

 

***

 

“Shit!” I ducked under a slash of beowolf claws, and with a twist of my hips stabbed through the offending beast. I shoved a fraction of my aura through my weapon and into the wolf, makings it’s head explode.

 

“Watch out!” Taiyang leaped over me, roundhouse kicking an Ursa Minor in the jaw and cracking open its skull. The bear fell dead into the ground with a light splat.

 

_ SHOOM! _

 

I flinched as a golden spear zoomed overhead and winched as it made a fleshy impact with the Grimm elder behind us.

 

We had been unable to get away, because the moment Gilda and the super Beowolf started their fight we got swarm by low level Grimm. That, and Glynda being here was what saved us from being slaughtered. Her telekinesis was a boon, and the sound of surrounding gunfire meant the stronger Grimm were being drawn  _ away _ from from us. I swear I heard Borr’s loud yells and the swing of metal on flesh every few steps.

 

Okay…focus, there are three Grimm on the left.

 

Two on the left, one behind.

 

“No…how how about a…”

 

_ SNAP! _

 

_ BOOM!! _

 

Several Grimm fell dead as they received several grams of nitrogen based explosive to the face. The one behind me fell, to a blast of superheated dream, and a lesser Nevermore above me was destroyed by a telekinesis wave. I gave my adoptive sister a look of gratitude. However, I felt something odd when her expresion twisted in horror.

 

I felt a massive hand pick me, and the world blurred around me as an alpha Beowolf threw me into the direction of the fight. I narrowly avoided a pike to the face, diverting my course with my aura, like what Blake did with that sea dragon Grimm.

 

I lay still, my head mercifully below the range of where it could  _ cut  _ off. All I could was sit and watch the almost legendary fight unfold…

 

I watched in awe as the Grimm parried blow after blow with his claws, having long since lost his weapon. Gilda had risen into the air, standing on the top of a surprisingly sturdy telephone pole. The wolf that I had for now decided to deem Fenrir threw an overhead slash with its claws, instantly blocked by a shield. The number of weapons in the air rose into the multiple dozens only just south of a hundred.

 

“Why won’t you DIE!” Gilda seemingly popped out of existence, and I heard a loud  _ crack  _ as she dropped down onto the Grimm’s armored forearm like an artillery shell. It howled in pain and brushed her off, snapping its jaws in her general direction.

 

It held its right arm cradling the cracked piece of bone crumbling away. It spun on its heels, dodging a large Halberd. However it didn’t manage to dodge the tens of dozens of arrows strung from countless bows. The arrowheads pierced it’s ghoulish flesh making it look like a porcupine. But instead of being angry it held its breath pushing outward. 

 

The air was peppered by a wide barrage of broken arrows acting as a poor man’s shrapnel. 

 

“She’s really going to bea—.” I paused as I noticed how ragged she looked. He semblance was taking its toll on her body and aura. Her aura was flickering, slowly weakening more and more as the fight became more prolonged. Both adversaries were growing weaker, but the Fenrir had the advantage in endurance. Gilda’s breath was racing; my ears straining to pick up the sound.

 

Gilda sighed and with shaking hands summoned up a portal of much greater size. She gave the Grimm a shit eating smile and  _ fired. _

 

Over a hundred weapons, and hundreds of arrows raced toward the Grimm and in the scuffle I ended up getting knocked behind Gilda. I stood up on shaking knees and my breath was stolen away as the Grimm walked through the  weapon storm. It twisted its body in just the right way, blocking the arrows isn’t it’s thicker bony plates. The monster sneered and in a gory flash tore out one of its own teeth, using it to block various bladed weaponry. I felt fear boil up as the attack grew ever weaker with each step that  _ thing  _ took. Gilda was sweating, her confident facade broken and her smirk now a mere line.

 

Within a couple of moments the Grimm was standing resolutely over Gilda as she collapsed onto her knees. Her aura had died away completely, all her energy directed into a final desperate attempt. Her eyes looked almost  _ accepting _ , but also regretful… 

 

N-No please… I can’t… I don’t…

 

“S-So this is all I can muster up huh?” Gilda sounded dead in her tone, her head dropping down and her hair blocking my view of her eyes. If I could see then, they would likely look dead…

 

The Grimm lifted up it doing claws…like the axe of an executioner…

 

“I’m…so sorry I couldn’t be there for you. Glynda…Summer please forgive. I-I love you.” 

 

The hand came down…

 

“NOOOOoo **OOO** !” I let out a scream, my senses fading out and bright flash of light blowing me further.

 

How did I get here? I grabbed my head, feeling a trickle of blood pore out from a wound. The Fenrir had recoiled and had its eyes narrowed in suspicion as I dropped down to the ground heaving out the remainders of my stomach contents. 

 

“M-Mom?!” I suppressed the confused shock and confliction deep within my soul and glared up at the Grimm. From the corner of my eye, I saw a glimmer of tears in my m-mother's eyes and looked away.

 

I-I think I have an idea…this Grimm must be an ancient one right? So it knows most of the tricks in the book… silver eyes and top Huntsmen or maybe even maidens…

 

But does it know about alchemy is the question.

 

C-Carbon dioxide… Nitrogen…

 

Oxygen, monohydrogen dioxide(water)

 

Atmospheric densification…

 

I grit my teeth as I focused on the alchemical reaction, having never used alchemy on this scale before for combat purposes. At normal air density and distribution, I can generate s-several grams of explosive compounds per cubic meter… I’m going to generate a reaction using… one hundred and fifty cubic meters of air densified to five times normal pressure so…

 

“M-Mom…you should probably…pick me up once I’m d-done here…” She looked confused until she noticed the lightning being infused into the air.  

 

“N-Now…” I felt the array activate and a small snap followed…

 

A massive flash of light and heat made impact with my body throwing me back into something soft. There was a brief numbness, until I touched my arms and my lower left cheek. A sensation of burning surged up, and then a twinge in my rib area started up.

 

I started screaming…the pain was…too

 

TOO MUCH!! I don’t w-wanna it…

 

I ignored the soothing and kind voice of Gilda, my thought process limited to only my own suffering.

 

I felt numb…there was a glowing light that made me relax comfortably. It was like cool water had been slowly and gently poured onto my body.

 

It was over…

 

I faded into a calm and quiet darkness…

 

***

 

Where…am I? The last thing I remember I was…

 

“Hmm…” A feminine moan alerted me, though I soon realized it was my voice. I opened up my eyes finding myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling (heh…). I hissed as I felt the tenderness in my muscles and skin. I noticed that most of the pain was on my lower left cheek near my jaw, my forearms, and my ribs. I picked myself up  _ slowly  _ not wanting to hurt myself. 

 

I was sitting on a hospital bed, with one occupied visitors chair. One Gilda Goodwitch, drooling into some weapons magazine. I decided to wake her up with the one word I knew would work.

 

“Mom?” She didn’t stir so I tried again. “Mom…mama?” She didn’t wake up despite my loudness. I felt the frustration mount up and tried a third time.

 

“MOM!!” She snapped her head up, ending up shattering a chair with her armored heels thus making me flinch. She let out a searing glare, but the moment she spotted me it softened into relief.

 

Gah!!

 

“Oh baby you’re okay.” I let out a frown of discomfort as she pulled me into her chest, my ribs aching in protest.

 

“Please let go…you’re crushing me.” Gilda blushed and dropped her arms down and I sighed in relief as the pressure went away. Even so Gilda grabbed my hand with a gentle expression and I wondered why she was looking at me like that.

 

“How bad has was it?” I don’t think I would care too much but…still

 

“Well, umm you had some burns that will leave some scarring, one broken ribs and two cracked ones. As well as a light concussion and some blood loss, otherwise not too bad.” She clapped her hands at the end, noticing her twitching eyebrows. I shook my head at her behavior, and lifted up my arms.

 

“I need a hug…” She gladly obliged and wrapped her arms around me, my body quivering against her frame. I could she was mad, but it wasn’t my fault if those Grimm hadn’t… “M-Mom?” She was still angry but didn’t interrupt me out of spite. “I didn’t…get put there on purpose…I was thrown by some…Grimm”

 

“I’m not mad at you…just frustrated…” I nodded, placing my chin into the crook of her neck. She was really warm and I needed  _ some  _ comfort after this ordeal.

 

“Hmm…how many?” She stiffened and I asked her again.

 

She suppressed a sigh and simply ran her fingers through my hair. “About 15… a good number of good men and women. It could have been so much worse though…luckily we managed to cull an enormous amount of Grimm before hand."

 

“Everything is going to okay, I promise.”

 

That wasn’t true, after a thousand years nothing had changed. The tide had been pushed back but never stopped. Their technology so advanced but it gave them no option of escape, only a respite until the inevitable end.

 

I wanted to help…in some way.

 

I was never the greatest person, I had a sense of empathy but it was rarely ever applied on a large scale. I was anti social, abrasive, disillusioned by humanity. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to help my species become something  _ more  _ than what they were.

 

With this power of Alchemy and semblance gifted to me, with the knowledge of my old home world and the knowledge of this one, maybe it would be enough to change everything. But clearly this wouldn’t be something I could do alone, it might be cheesy but the whole “Hero” if we all work together thing is  _ true. _ Everything a sapient species has ever built has been based on some level of cooperation, whether between two people, two tribes, or multiple cities and states. That is how humanity survived for so long on a world like this.

 

Maybe…I could make well you  _ know,  _ a difference.

 

“What’s with that evil look on your face?” I…want to  _ save  _ this world if it’s truly possible, but not all on my own. I want to change this worlds future and make a better one.

 

I’m  _ determined…  _

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have got a new chapter out for this story and a chapter six should be on its way. I have my general format that I will be going with for this story. There will be Interludes between chapters to add some greater amount of detail to the story. No reason to skimp out on whats happening else where. Anyways it should be only some chapters more before we head on to Beacon and the ball will really get rolling then.

**Chapter Five: Meeting the Puppet-maker, a Beacon student, and** **Puberty**

 

Wow… My face got kind of messed up by that damn Grimm.

 

I was staring blatantly at the mirror, grasping the scar on my lower left cheek, a dark red burn mark left behind by the fuel air explosion I had created with my combustion alchemy. The skin there was still a little leathery as well as sensitive, and I winced when my fingers grazed it.

 

Guess my beautiful face got marred a bit, but it's not too noticeable though. Luckily it didn't scar too bad, it should be nothing more than some slight discoloration in a few months. The burn scars on my arms aren't too bad either, just some permanent red marks. The doctor told me I was lucky to be alive, that if I had been even a few inches closer I would have either died or been permanently crippled or disfigured.

 

It made me shiver just thinking about how many times I must have come close to death again… But that didn't matter in comparison to what Umber must be suffering after I f— her _dad_ died.

 

It had taken… How long did it take?

 

About two weeks for her to be mentally and emotionally stable enough to _seem_ normal. I honestly thought she would give up on becoming a Huntress, but her father’s death only seemed to strengthen her resolve.

 

I actually admired her for bouncing back so quickly, which was why I was following her lead on this. No half-baked Grimm would make me back down.

 

Which was why I… Br—err Summer Flamel Rose, scientist _extraordinaire_.

 

AM—

 

“Are you sure this is safe Summer?” I gave my blond haired cutie of a friend a glare from the corner of my eye as I placed my fully built rocket into a vertical orientation. All the time after I had been cleared to leave the hospital was spent building the final configuration of my four-pound rocket engine. Two hundred and fifty pounds of thrust, reaching up to 17000 feet into the air…

 

Ready to launch today…

 

“Yes definitely safe, no chance of a major injury from our our… _little_ test flight.” I rubbed my hands together despite Tai’s nervous expression. I wasn't going to stop there, feeling a small cackle escape my lips. No one was going to stop me from my dreams of reaching orbit! I just need a bigger rocket, maybe I'll try liquid methane and oxygen next time ala SpaceX and Blue Origin. I had managed to get permission from Ozpin for launch. I didn't want the authorities to have any issues with shooting a rocket 6000 meters into the air.

 

“So we're ready to go right?” Umber broke in with her finger on the launch button, ready to send off our rocket into a cloud or two. Our little rocket was equipped with a small parachute, a newly built Lithium Iron Phosphate battery using some rusty iron, a couple of old pills, and some manure.

 

It took a couple dozen tries to stop it from blowing up despite being the most stable rechargeable Lithium ion battery known. But stability is not a substitute for quality, which is _why_ I love my bullshit semblance. Using Structural Analysis to figure out what went wrong and what I needed to adjust in the transmutation. You have no God damn idea how hard it is to get a Lithium battery right. And this was with the stable and cheap material cost of Lifepo4.

 

“Stand back please.” I hid behind a blast shield in case things went terribly wrong, I don't want to be in the middle of an unscheduled disassembly. No supersonic shrapnel for me thank you very much.

 

I placed on a pair of super cool as well as very well reinforced sunglasses, as the engine rumbled with its hydrocarbon fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. I waited anxiously wiggling on my seat as my childish energy rose to the surface once more. But I didn't mind at all, this was a small _fucking_ rocket and I felt proud that we had made it this far.

 

“3,2,1 Lift Off!!” Both Umber and Taiyang shot out from their chairs shouting loudly for everyone to see and hear. The rocket shot off like a… Well a rocket screaming through the sky and becoming a smaller and quieter dot with each each second that passed. I felt my grin widen from ear to ear, and my legs moved back and forth on my chair feeling happy for once.

 

I waited for around 30 seconds waiting for the alert to ring to tell us that the parachute had deployed. A greater amount of time for an alert gave me a sense of urgency that made my legs shake with anticipation.

 

Fortunately the alert was only a little late and Gilda was the one to retrieve it since it was going to land near the woods. Close to a half hour later and trudging up from the woods was my rocket towed by Gilda who was wearing a happy and _proud_ expression. I scampered up to her with a small but genuine grin on my face.

 

“Hi!” Her expression lit up at my enthusiastic greeting and I out of spontaneity formed my hands into a heart shape. Her lips lifted up into a loving smile and she gently placed down the rocket. I leaped into her arms, and Gilda let out an “oomph!” as I collided with her body.

 

She looked rather amused at my unrest and gave me a quick nuzzle on the nose. I might have been a _little_ too old for that at eleven but… I didn't really care at this point. “You seem rather excitable today Summer, in fact it's quite out of character for you.” I gave her a light shrug not disagreeing with her in the slightest. I _was_ in a particular good mood today and it was unlikely that anything could ruin it.

 

Taiyang had a disturbed look on his head and clicked his tongue in thought. “Yeah it's _really_ creepy.” Umber nodded with a serious expression her ears flopping up and down with her head movements. I gave the both of them a betrayed look and my face further soured at the ever-smirkier smirk on Glynda’s.

 

“Yes it is quite odd little sister, quite odd indeed.” My sister rubbed her chin _suspiciously,_ her eyes narrowed in thought. I felt a spike of anger and tried to swat her with my left hand. She sidestepped the attack and I felt straight on my face and into an inconspicuous pile of mud. The blonde girl gasped and marched over to me; fussing over the recently made simple black dress they had gotten me three days ago. She cleaned me up with her telekinesis, which was about when the volcano _exploded._

 

“What the hell Glynda!? Why would you—!” I cut myself off trying to keep my fingers explosive temper in check. I felt a confusing mess of anger, annoyance, and _something_ else. I didn't know how to describe it, almost like I was—

 

_OWWW!!_

 

A strong ache piled up in my lower stomach and I pressed my thighs together. My confusion only skyrocketing. There was also a weak scent of blood and—

 

No…

 

No no…

 

Don't you dare…!

 

Oh God this is _mortifying._ How could I forget that I'm a girl and girls go through things like… _this_ even if only some of the time. I stiffly and awkwardly asked Glynda to come closer whispering so Taiyang couldn't hear. I groaned as another smirk formed on the surprisingly mischievous golden girl.

 

“I guess you could say…” Glynda had an infuriating shit eating smile I wanted to wipe off with my fists. “You’re going through a rough… _period_ of your life.” Glynda ended the terrible pun with jazz hands and I was mulling over whether to strangle her or commend her for that terrible, terrible pun. Before she could continue my torment I already figured out the perfect retort.

 

“Don't think I won't tell mom about what you do with that _thing_ hidden under your dra—mmm” Glynda turned absolutely _scarlet_ and I knew I hit the jackpot on embarrassing secrets.

 

“Okay okay I'll stop!”

 

“Well then help me!”

 

Time started to pass a little faster since that fateful day as we grew ever closer to a future that will never be as it once was.

 

***

 

So…it's been a while since we last talked…whoever may be listening. I _know_ how these stories usually go…so, plus an internal log of my thoughts is necessary. Having a near photographic memory is _rather_ helpful in that endeavour.

 

Anyway, lots has been going on since then. Only a few short weeks away from being 13 and a few weeks after that before I enter Signal. So I'll be about 13 and one month when I get into the Combat school… the same applies for Taiyang and Umber.

 

…

 

…

 

It's… been difficult to adjust after the Grimm attack and it's left me rather jittery at times. There are still times I think about that day, as well as the night _terrors_ that interrupt my sleep. But outside of that adjusting to going through _female_ puberty once again had actually been the most difficult event for me.

 

Frankly… puberty sucks balls… Especially with how _stupid_ and borderline moronic every boy other than Tai in this school seems to be, and is one of the reasons I don't wear skirts to that school anymore. Other than skirts just not being my style of course, too short for my own state. I'm okay with dresses though, I’ve found them surprisingly comfortable and I look _great_ in them. But, I usually wear long shorts and any kind of loose fitting t shirt. Usually of a black, red or white color as well.

 

As to what I was up to right now… I was working on my _little_ railgun project as well as a greater rocket project right now. Mainly the rails welding shut on a fairly consistent basis. I theorize that it needs an injector to get the projectile to an initial velocity before the acceleration from the rails begins. Too much current to accelerate the round from 0 to over a kilometer per second.

 

So I've added an Air Dust based gas gun, which turned out to be a very common propellant among the natives because it's a little more efficient than the indirect propulsion of an explosion. So the railgun I'm building will be more a hybrid gun of sorts, with an Air Dust barrel that will accelerate a round to 1000 meters per second. Another change was in the rail material to a better Copper alloy that's been treated with Dust to become _superconductive_ at room temperature. Total bullshit but who am I to deny myself the wonderful gifts of Remnant technology. Which is why I hope they figure out how to work on the technology off planet, because frankly their tech _is_ better. They just need some _small_ adjustments to be even better, and I think I _might_ be able to help.

 

“So…” I felt my eyebrows twitch as Taiyang found a position on my left as I learned my arms against the desk where my _project_ lay. He had been acting rather… _odd_ you could say using me as “test dummy”

 

“What's cooking good looking.” He snapped his fingers ending his little _something_ with finger guns pointed at me. I flicked him on the nose making him yelp and lean a few inches back. I shook my head at him and he pouted dejectedly at my painful response.

 

“Too cheesy… They might just think you're a dork _but_ if they're the type then maybe. Still don't _why_ you're asking me… I might be a girl but I'm not a reliable source of information on what they think.”

 

Taiyang had started to develop an interest in girls and had started to flirt with me to see what I thought. The dork thought _I_ would know what to tell him… He was wrong of course, the only advice I could give him was to be himself, don't try to be fake etc etc. Present your best side sure… But if you date someone you should be willing to show the side of you that is more… vulnerable or imperfect. Deceiving someone and making them think you're someone you're not will tend to end… poorly.

 

“Also, let me get back to my work dork, I need to get this done.” He nodded and moved away from my desk, practicing a specialized form of Air Alchemy to form sonic shockwaves.

 

He had discovered his semblance when those Grimm had separated us. He had the power to generate a fiery glowing sonic roar capable of mass amounts of damage, at least comparable to a Hunter's firearm if not even more powerful. He's called it Lion's Roar but I've had fun with calling him Dovahkiin, and the confused face he makes when I call him that is priceless.

 

Okay the rails are done; I've got the Lightning Dust in the right spot, the Wind Dust too. So the prototype is essentially complete, it's of moderate size as well. The total barrel length is about 24 inches shared evenly between the two sections of the gun. The special round I've made for the gun is a tungsten alloy core with an aluminum alloy armature. With the current upgraded components the round should reach about 3000 or even 4000 meters per second.

 

Hmm…let's see here with some _analysis_ , okay need to add three screws here…don't want the rails to fly apart. Ooo…there's a tiny imperceptible Crack in the copper here, let's… Fix that with some Earth alchemy.

 

Careful with analysing that Dust, don't want a headache now…

 

For whatever strange reason, attempting to use my semblance on Dust gives me a raging migraine. I can use my semblance on it, but for now at least it's limited to checking for minor structural imperfections or what _kind_ of Dust it was, as well as the mixture ratio. But I believe it's time to start the test for this _magnificent_ weapon/scientific tool of mine.

 

Hmm…I wonder what would happen if I smashed two pieces of Dust at near the speed of light.

 

Heh, heh, heh…time for mass acceleration!

 

_BOOM!!_

 

“Fuck yeah…” I couldn't help but celebrate under my breath as the 10 gram projectile left a blazing trail of plasma impacting on a weak Energy Dust based shield.

 

Oh yeah… I also learned a fair bit of the various types of Dust as well. Energy Dust as an example is a combination of two different Dust mixes. Thunder(plasma) dust which when it is used the crystalline material will generate clouds of high energy gas and is made from Blitz(Lightning) and Breeze(Air) Dust. This makes up the majority of the material, while the other 5% to 30% is Gravity(Crush) Dust made of Blitz and Block(Earth) Dust.

 

For whatever reason a combination of those dusts creates a hyper dense power source with energy density intermediate between nuclear fusion and fission depending on the amount of Gravity Dust used. It can be used in at least two different ways, either as an energy shield ala Halo or as a power source. The properties of Gravity make it so the plasma forms a solid light barrier of sorts. Or it can be detonated into a powerful explosion of plasma and electricity.

 

Now it isn't uncommon for Thunder Dust to have some gravity Dust mixed in so they can be used like missiles. A lot like Covenant plasma weapons in fact…

 

I'm actually really thankful for what I've managed to learn once Umber and I joined the school engineering club. There's really a lot to learn there, and being hands on with Remnant technology has helped a lot even if I didn't originally want to go. I have to thank Gilda for that, having _some_ friends is better than having none. I was never very confident with joining any of the combat-sports teams but the engineering competitions were…fun.

 

Though I suspect that may be one reason why I'm rather lacking in skill in comparison to either of my friends. But even then private spars with them are oddly fun and fulfilling even if I don’t win. I haven't managed to best any of them but I'm getting close I'm sure. I still need to figure out my fighting style. It's definitely not anywhere up close though, I don't like getting within more than five feet of another person if I don't have to.

 

Fight from long distances and a railgun huh…

 

“Salutations my friend! A positively _fascinating_ design. Did you build this?” I was startled out my musing as a red headed scientist took Taiyang’s former seat.

 

Right… I had forgotten that Mom had a guest from Atlas, some young scientist whose started making waves in the community. He was a young Dr. Light esque looking fellow. The taller male was a bit dark skinned and a little chubby but there was a hint of _some_ level of power within him so there was no reason to count him out just yet.

 

Besides that he was a man of average height, with a wide nose and very kind looking eyes that were currently filled to the brim with curiosity. I was similarly curious on who he was but didn't really care too much to ask at the time, but that didn't mean I wouldn't answer him.

 

“An electromagnetically propelled gun. It functions by injecting a massive amount of electricity into the rails turning them into electromagnets. The two rails proceed to form an electric circuit with the conductive armature that serves as the sabot for the actual round. The generated magnetic fields will push _out_ the round at huge velocities with enough voltage and current.” The man nodded respectively and he looked approving of other things I had tinkered with.

 

A very simple wheeled robot I had copied from some old files… A quaint little thing really just two floors of plastic where the components on the machine sat. Some outdated electronics from ten years ago and a small alchemically created Lithium-ion battery. It was basically an arduino robot where I had simply followed the instructions that could be followed. Main issue was the software though since they didn't have C+ in this universe.

 

The funny thing was…their programming is actually _total_ shit, decades behind us in _some_ aspects. Overly bloated software, poor search engine,  no social media but that last one might be a plus instead of a negative. They've pretty much done everything through pure brute force and willpower and their software hasn't quite kept up with them.  Basically a lot like back on earth but multiplied…at least for now.

 

But frankly the only thing they need is the use of deep learning and they should be fine. I pointed him to his object of curiosity realizing I had paused too long. “It's a very simple robotic machine that can find its way indoors with some simple process programming. It's kind of bad at it though…” I still remembered the time it ended up tripping Taiyang. Having someone like 30 pounds heavier fall on top of you is rather painful. Still guess it was better than all the aches I've been feeling lately… goddamn growth spurt, I didn't think I would be annoyed with growing four inches but I am…

 

_GAHH!_

 

I stuttered as the doctor turned me over to shake my hand vigorously, engulfing my small hand into his large ones. He was being rather enthusiastic a-about meeting me!

 

“It is nice to meet a young lady interested in science and engineering! I hope you continue with your interests in the future!” I nodded with a hint of hesitation and he let his hand go. “And what is that?” I tilted my head to my more _recent_ rocket design and some notes I had written on a few _theories_ of mine. I pretty much was just stealing some of SpaceX’s early rocket revisions and replicating some of their technology.

 

“Oh that is a design for a turbo pump as well as some notes on some stuff…” I felt my hands turn clammy feeling strangely anxious to see what he thought. Though admittingly the turbo pump had actually been built by _Umber,_ she had a better eye for this kind of stuff, with my semblance the only reason I edge out above her. The funny thing is that she commonly uses me as a set of talking lab equipment for _obvious_ reasons.

 

“Hmm what are those notes about?” I let him grab the messy set of legible scribbles curious on what he would think. He hummed and there was a spark of an idea within his eyes as he read the title. I scooted over so I could lean over his shoulder which I could now _just_ reach with my height of five feet and half.

 

“Hmm… What an odd hypothesis you have made? Can you explain it for me? While I can read this on my own, I would like to know the thought process on coming up with it.” I nodded and gestured for the paper, knowing it would help with jogging my memory. The scientist nodded and I held the notes tight…

 

“Of course now let's see here… Ahh my hypothesis on the Non Functionality of Aura in Space. Well it all started when I read some old studies on the failed Atlas space program and the experiments performed.”

 

“Of course and with your basic knowledge of this ‘Chemistry’ based rocketry you wanted to learn more about the Dust based form.” I gave him a small smile in response. Whoever he was, he was a nice guy really, willing to listen to a kids inane rambling.

 

“Pretty much… My first thought was that Dust might need an atmosphere to function much like a fuel needs an oxidizer to work in space. The studies informed me that had already been attempted and failed. So I came up with a different idea… based on some studies on how Dust power fades with altitude. It made me think that _perhaps_ there's some kind of energy that allows Dust to work.”

 

His eyes widened as he glanced at a crude picture, a stick figure surrounded by aura and a mostly accurate depiction of Remnant with a similar field, growing progressively weaker indicated by lines until becoming non existent at around 114 kilometers.

 

“You believe the key could be aura itself? Well there have been some rumors…” He trailed off muttering excitedly to himself. My eye widened and I scooted over eager to hear about any possible Atlas rumors. The young man seemed almost nervous though a brief smile from me seemed to calm his nerves.

 

“Ah…yes there were apparently some experiments on using aura to activate Dust to see if anything could happen. The reports are long since gone, though I found some sections that indicate a larger quantity of aura would be enough to keep Dust functional.”

 

Oh my God yes! That would be… But why do I hear a but?

 

“But before there was any further experimentation their funding was cut and all the regained budget was placed into the CCT network project.” Goddammit… Without that report I don't have a clue on where to even begin. The doctor looked equally disappointed and leaned against the chair.

 

“So besides that _depressing_ information is there anything else you can tell me about this theory of yours.”

 

I gave him a nod. “Not too much, mainly I want to ask…do some Hunter weapons still have aura even without their users nearby?”. Because if they did it would make things _much_ easier.

 

“I…yes actually but why—oh my. That would be a breakthrough, are you thinking of creating an _aura_ battery or field generator of some sorts.” I shrugged; I didn't have the right background to make a marvel like that. The pudgy professor muttered under his breath with a mild excitement until a call interrupted us. He moved away to have a more private conversation.

 

“Hmm…yes excellent this will be…” The rest became unintelligible and I clicked my heels together waiting patiently for him to finish his scroll call. A minute after the Atlesian hung up, and turned back to me with a smile.

 

“It has been nice meeting you child I…” I gestured to a book before he could say anything else. I wasn't sure whether or not this whim of mine was a good idea, but my _gut_ was telling me this would end well. I passed on a book on Neural Networks and a book on Rocketry. He looked touched by the gesture and thanked me with a small bow of his head.

 

Not like he was the first to get a translated book. Ozpin and I had been gradually translating the digitally stored texts onto paper and publishing them under an anonymous name. I feel like I should feel bad for stealing the works of others _but_ I don't. There’d so much good that could be done with our combined knowledge.

 

“Thank you for the gift young lady.” Again no need to thank me for this, I have like ten other copies. My grin dropped as he turned around to leave and I managed to stop him just short of the exit.

 

“H-Hey I never got your name mister.” He stopped and opened the door taking as jungle step outside. The older man tilted his eye to face me and his grin widened immensely, it's shine practically blinding.

 

“My name is Geppetto Polendina.” I felt my mind scramble back at the name, but the friendly young adult didn't seem to notice. I mumbled my name back and he waved goodbye shutting the door and leaving me all alone.

 

…

 

…

 

So…that just happened…

 

Did I just help Penny exist by accident?

 

Well… “Ahhh.” A yawn was released and I felt a wave of tiredness come on.

 

Oh who cares I _need a_ nap…

 

This has been a really weird day…

 

***

 

“I guess…this is it then?”

 

Glynda and I were now at an impasse, there was only another two weeks before she would finally go off to Beacon. The aforementioned Huntress trainee gave me an almost sad if accepting smile. I was happy for her…she had gotten her application accepted, and passed her entry test. A mix of physical combat and showing off of their skills. Much like that one fanfiction…Calamity something…

 

But…it would be awfully empty without her around to take care of things. Oh God I'm going to have to cook my own food don't I? Letting Gilda cook would _definitely_ lead to food poisoning. If I'm going to get killed it won’t be by food poisoning of all things.

 

I was snapped out my thoughts when an amused Glynda wracked her knuckles against my forehead.

 

“I'll be fine you little troublemaker. You're a real _thorn_ in my side you know.” I snorted, wondering how she became the hardass deputy of Professor Ozpin.

 

“Yeah, yeah I _know_ , Professor.” I noticed a twitch from her eyebrow and smirked. For whatever reason she seemed to like me calling her that. Maybe it reminded her of Gilda and she either liked it or didn't. “Now, how am I going to not starve? You and I both know the Golden women in the other room can't cook for Jack shit.”

 

Her lips twitched into a brief smile at my statement and gave me a pat on the head. “I suppose you'll have to cook for yourself now little sister.”

 

“I hate you…” I slumped into a chair and and took in the details of the room. We had actually been allowed to visit Beacon for a while. But right now we were waiting for Ozpin to actually show up. It was an office much like Ozpin’s if less luxurious and smaller, with severa ahem… _phallic_ chairs evenly set apart. There was a bookshelf on my left, and I took out a book from it.

 

“I…I'm happy for you…it's…I'm going to miss you.” I yelped as the blonde girl picked me and I felt heat flow into my cheeks as she trapped me between her… _sizable_ assets. I struggled out of her hold until I could breath, placing my chin in the crook of her neck.

 

“I'll miss you too…” Hard to pay attention to such a heart(chest)full reply while drowning in… _mammary_ glands.

 

“Why did you have to almost _kill_ me to say that.” There was momentary lapse in her facial language, befuddlement in her eyes. Her eyes peered downward and her eyebrows snapped together, a hot blush on her face.

 

“Oh gods I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…why are you still staring at my chest.” I didn't meet her eye, not having a word to say. This time it was my turn to be confused as a wide smirk appeared on her face.

 

“~Ohh I know what's going on~” and _I_ don't like that look on your face Witch. Glynda put me down, and I defensively hugged the book to my stomach, still unsure of where she was going with this.

 

The girl gave me a knowing smile and poked my forehead. You're _jealous_!”

 

“What?” She didn't waver for even a moment and just kept talking!

 

“I remember having the same issues when I was your age you know.” I cringed as I hoped to God, Oum, and the brothers…just _someone_ to make her stop before she reached the point of no return.

 

Wait…I know _exactly_ what to do!

 

_SNAP!!_

 

“MHHMP!!” I created a clean metal plate and placed it over Glynda’s mouth keeping any such content _away_ from my ears, too much information for me to know. She pushed me off removing the obstruction from her mouth with a twitching vein nearly popping out.

 

Before she could say anything I decided to clarify. “That was not why I was blushing you crazy witch!”

 

An awkward silence followed and I sat on my chair scratching my head with my left hand. I used my right to run it through my silky soft bangs, and despite the embarrassing situation. Fond memories of our time together still _rose_ to the surface regardless.

 

I felt a little mirth, remembering that the only reason my hair was as clean as it was, was due to Glynda's intervention. Being that I was male…and an unkempt one at that, maintaining my condition wasn't exactly a well-polished skill. The second she had the chance; she sat me down teaching me all the basic necessity. She and mom didn't push me too far thankfully, there are certain aspects of girls I'm not interested in.

 

Makeup mostly, but thankfully neither of them actually applied much if any makeup at all. Aura has some rather interesting effects on the human body…less health issues, longer lifespan…

 

If you weren't killed by a Grimm I mean. I tilted my head as a muffled conversation took place just outside our door.

 

“I guess this is goodbye at least for now.” Glynda grabbed my wrists at my statement

 

“Come on you'll see me during break remember?” I nodded and focused my eyes on the door. “Just once I go…you still have all your chores to do.”

 

Dammit Glynda!

 

“Remember to brush your teeth three times day, a daily 10 minute shower. You're the new cook around the house so _be_ prepared!” The moment was gone sis. “Brush your hair, use the cleaning products I've shown you. Remember to put on your pa—”

 

 _And_ I'm tuning you out, bye bye big sister. Sheesh… She's a rather bossy little lady isn't she? Hmm…noticed based on their voices that Ozpin wasn't there, only an unknown voice of whoever teaches at this school.

 

I tapped into my semblance curious to see if I could extend my range to them.

 

…

 

Nope only 6.5 meters…damn but getting better still. I _know_ I haven't reached the bottom of what this semblance can do. But give it time; I've got another four years before I have to worry about that anyway. Now the real question I have right now.

 

Where is our little wizard of Oz?

 

***

 

Footsteps echoed in a cavern deep below the school that had trained the protectors of mankind for over fifty years. The tap of a cane could be heard as well as a _certain_ dark haired Headmaster walked through the empty halls of the cavern. The ancient wizard’s eyes gleamed as he stopped short of a large door. He pressed his hands against the door with familiarity but left the heavy entrance alone. He let out a breath as the heavy pressure of ancient magic wafted from inside the sealed room. He turned away from the gateway and tapp his cane in an almost impatient fashion.

 

Ozpin had nothing to do in this room, only taking a stroll to this long forgotten place out of a mere whim. The man sighed as the toll of overwork finally demanded its payment. The Headmaster had been working nearly non stop since he had found the strange Silver Eyes child and those books containing knowledge long lost to even him.

 

 _‘That child is odd…but I can tell that she simply wants to help others if in her own way.’_ He smiled lightly, glad that he had found the child when he did, he didn't want to think about what would have happened if he failed. He felt the weight of what the young girl called an “Array Book” a text that illustrated dozens of arrays explaining what each did and what their symbols meant.

 

“Well it seems we will be living in interesting times Miss Rose. But… I still wonder where your parents derived that _secret_ knowledge? How did they know what was coming to the mountain?” Ozpin shook his head, quietly scanning a letter from Doctor Polendina asking if he knew anything about the long defunct Atlesian space Program.

 

The cavern twinkled with an unnatural rainbow light and the wizard gave off a hearty chuckle.

 

“I truly hope that this new path is the right one…”

 

 


End file.
